Breaking Cages
by Alaska Hills
Summary: Addison Richards has arrived in a new town at a new school with one simple goal: Escape her crazy past, heal her wounds and move on with her life. Seems simple enough, but life in Sweet Amoris is rarely easy. Boys, drama and her past life are sure to catch up with her. Sorry about the summary :P It's rated K plus because I'm paranoid. Love you all!
1. My First Day

**Disclaimer: Guess who owns nothing? It's me. I own Addison but everyone else belongs to someone else. *CRIES***

Yeah so unfortunately it's got just about the same plot-line as any other MCL fic, and for that I'm sorry. (I REALLY AM) But give it a chance okay? I needed to get this down somewhere.

_Sometimes we are afraid of monsters, but sometimes it is in the sight of monsters that we truly come out of hiding._

–_Unknown_

I awoke sobbing and panting, sweat dripping down my face.

That damn nightmare was starting to do a serious number on me. Pretty soon I'd die of a heart attack or something. I glanced at the clock and was greeted with the soft green light of the numbers.

Four thirty in the fucking morning. First day of school. What fun.

No way was I going back to sleep with that dream still lingering though. Well, the memory I guess.

Instead I headed for the shower. Not because I felt particularly grimy, though that was a factor as well, but because I needed to do some serious thinking. And let's be honest, I can't be the only person that does their deep thinking in the shower.

I turned up the temperature to what I liked to call nerve damage and waited for it to get blistering enough. I went to the closet to grab a towel (Auntie had left me with a stack of fluffy animal ones), today's depicting a rather irritated looking frog in a shower cap.

I hopped gingerly into the spray of boiling water and was instantly soothed by it, the worries over my dream fading away. However I was only reminded of my memory when the hot water hit a bruise or a cut, making it sting of throb, especially the newly sewn one on my side. I'd let out a pained hiss every now and then, it was way too hot.

But I didn't end up turning the water down.

I reminded myself a little of my fluffy towel companion, the frog. Not because I was fluffy or towel-like, wearing a shower cap or particularly cross looking. I remembered doing I biology experiment where we took frogs and put them in water and slowly started boiling it. The frog didn't notice. It just stayed swimming in the scalding water until it started to slow down, then stopped moving altogether. The frog had been unaware of the imminent danger, and hadn't felt the water get too hot until it was too late. It had just waited and swam until it died.

There I was, standing in hot water, waiting for the danger to finally come and get me. My happy little swim in this new town couldn't last forever, the bad memories would find me again. But I wouldn't notice until it was too late. He'd kill me for certain this time.

Forget thinking in the shower, I'd turned it up a notch to full out philosophical ponderings in the shower. With that in mind I washed and rinsed my hair, scrubbed my body with the vanilla soap Auntie had bought me and stepped out into the bathroom of steam I'd created. It was almost like walking in a cloud.

My skin had turned a dusty pink all over after standing under the blazing water. I looked like I'd stood out in the sun for an hour. Or in my case, with skin as fair as mine, about ten minutes. I cleared some of the condensation off of the mirror and looked at myself.

_It's too early in the morning. Why did I even bother checking?_

The dark circles under my eyes were a dead giveaway that I'd only slept on and off for about three hours. There were multiple bruises on my face as well, I silently begged Auntie to have remembered to get me concealer, mine was too thin.

I put a finger to the largest of my bruises, a fading purple blue one on my cheekbone. I poked it like an idiot and the sharp pain was only the tiniest of reminders of what the injury felt like when I'd received it.

Auntie and I had gone shopping yesterday evening for some more clothes. Most of the ones I'd owned had been left behind and I wouldn't get them for another few weeks. I was alright with it though, I kind of liked shopping.

I'd already picked out the outfit I wanted to wear, something fairly casual because I didn't want to be noticed too much on my first day. Not like many people would notice me anyways. The outfit consisted of a black, lose fitting top with the words "Find me Backstage" written in silver across it. Auntie had insisted I get it because "I've heard you sing darling, you can wear that to your first concert." I truly loved the woman. I paired it with some jeans and combat boots.

I had absolutely no idea how to spend two and a half hours in the apartment. There was nothing to do really except play games on the corny little DS I'd inherited from my older brother. I noticed the package on the table. Whatever it was it was wrapped in bright red (my favourite colour) wrapping paper with a large flamboyant bow on top.

_It must be a gift from Auntie. _

Eagerly I tore it open. Inside was a red laptop, some new fancy model I guessed. Technology was not my forte. There was a note stuck to the keyboard.

**I've already set it up for you! I figured you'd need something to do around the apartment, (We'll go furniture shopping soon!) consider it yours! I'm assuming you'll also need it for school work correct? Enjoy darling!**

**XOXOXO –Auntie**

I grinned and immediately turned it on. The screen lit up the dark room. Needless to say, I pulled out my iPod and started filling up my iTunes with music thanks to more money from Auntie. That woman and her cashola never ceased to amaze me.

When I glanced at the clock next, it was six thirty, and I was 700 songs richer. It was still dark outside, the days were getting shorter and all I could see outside was whatever the streetlamp bathed in the orange-yellow glow.

I sighed. First day of school was bound to be hell.

_No, no. Hell with cliques and jocks. I hate cliques and jocks._

Oh well, according to Auntie the school had wi-fi so if I took my shiny new laptop I could hide behind it all day and not have to speak to anyone. Sounded like a sweet deal.

I shovelled some coffee grounds into the top of the machine and flicked it on. Lord knows I'd need something strong to deal with all this. I put toast in the toaster and got out the jam, strawberry, my favourite. I took care of myself, as I always had.

I waited, my hands gripping the counter tightly. Already I could feel the throbbing on my waist that the doctor had predicted. I tentatively lifted up my shirt. I could see the beginnings of the wound, it looked angrily sewn together, like a zipper might appear once it's been done up. Then of course there were Doctor Mathison's clean, perfect stitches on top, just to make sure.

My mind went back to our conversation.

"Well, I don't want to remove those stitches now, you've already lost a lot of blood. We'll deal with it when I see you in two weeks, how does that sound?"

"Sounds great."

I remembered getting up to leave, practically flying out the door because I just wanted to get out of that place more than anything, and he'd stopped me with three words.

"You were brave."

"What?"

"It must have taken a lot of courage, taking all of this for so long, and then of course the sewing. It was brave."

I ran from that hospital room muttering a thank you. Nothing anyone said had made me feel any better. Brave? _Brave?_ Maybe if I _had_ been brave I would have fought harder. Hell, I would have killed that man given the chance.

I'd had the chance, and I'd taken a knife to the side instead.

He'd come up to me, leering. His face shining with excitement. He'd raised the knife above his head as though he were about to throw a javelin and I watched helplessly as it rained down towards me skin. Closer, faster until-

My toast popped. I jumped and I felt my side burn. I needed to be more careful. The doc had warned if I strained myself a little too hard the stress of recent events would catch up with me and my body would have a meltdown. Yeah, whatever that meant.

The walk to school was only about ten minutes. I'd decided to go early, have a look around for a bit. If the building wasn't open yet, well, Auntie said the garden was pretty.

The apartment was really the only building near to me. There were two halves to Sweet Amoris and the other side of the city was crammed with houses and the occasional park. I liked my half, it only consisted of the school, a clothing shop, a dollar shop, the apartment, the jewellery store, the bank and a cute little info kiosk called the "forums" or something like that.

As I walked, I focused mainly on my breath, which came in hot, heavy clouds. It was pretty cold for September. Normally the first week of school we were graced with nice weather as if mother nature was promoting optimism. Apparently this year she knew it was pointless, we were all doomed.

At least I was.

The school came into view, it was quite tall for the high school of a town this damn size. I looked up and could've sworn I saw someone with bright red hair standing up there, looking down at me.

However that was when a bunch of wet, brightly coloured leaves rained down on me, the wind blew my cinnamon hair in a haphazard tangle around my head, and when I looked up again whoever it was had vanished and I looked like I'd just crawled out of the forest after living there all my life.

I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to restore some tameness to it and picked a few leaves out. Great. Brilliant start so far.

When I tried the front door I was pleased to find it was open and I wandered in. An old woman nearly ran me over before stopping and smiling sweetly at me.

"You must be Calder, am I right" Her voice, if possible, was even sweeter than her smile. It was actually a little scary how picturebook grandmother she was. I was certain she was about to dig through a carpet bag to offer me some hard candy or something.

"That's me." I replied cautiously, like I was afraid if I said the wrong thing she'd cry. She was way too cute to cry.

"What a charming name for a young lady!" She beamed at me.

"Oh, thank you." I returned her smile.

"Nathaniel's in the room just down the hall, I'm sure he could help you get all your papers sorted." She pointed at the student council room.

"Thanks." I smiled again and walked quickly down the hall. I knocked lightly and when I didn't receive an answer, pushed open the door. There was a photocopier spewing out brightly coloured flyers. The type you might find plastered on the walls of your school announcing pep rallies or bake sales. How positively nauseating.

A blond turned away from the bold colours and surveyed my slightly dishevelled appearance. "Uh, hi. Are you new here?" He flashed me a grin that would make most girls drop dead.

Well, I wasn't most girls. Couldn't deny it though, he was pretty easy on the eyes.

"Yeah. Is it that obvious?" Oh Lord I hadn't been here five minutes and I was flirting with a hot guy in the student council room. Wow Addie, scandal.

"No, you'll fit right in. Do you have your registration forms and the twenty-five dollars? You look like the type to join clubs, am I right? We've got so many different programs that you could be a part of!" Oh no he was _that_ type.

I pulled the forms and the money out of my bag and walked over to him. "I'm... not really a joiner." I admitted, putting on the best sarcastic smile I could. He passed me back a few sheets to help me find my way around.

Not _really_ a joiner? HA. I _wasn't_ a joiner. I was horrid at sports, for one thing, and being in a group music thing like a band or a choir only brought out the snarky sarcastic side of me that most people deemed "rude" or "bitchy".

This Nathaniel boy was clearly getting that picture, because he suddenly looked really disappointed in me. "Oh, well that's too bad. If you change your mind you know where to find me for signups!"

Uh huh. Right.

I had turned back to the door to leave when he spoke again.

"So why did you leave your last school?"

Here I'd been hoping to avoid that question forever and some boy asks it on the first day of school.

"There were family complications." His eyes flicked to the cut on my forehead the doc sewed up a week ago. I could see him running through the possibilities. "I moved in with my Aunt, I er... I like small towns better than the city."

That seemed to do the trick. Mr. Happy bounced right back.

"Then you're in the right place!" He smiled kindly. "Enjoy your first day, don't hesitate to come to me with questions."

"For sure." I muttered and escaped as fast as I could.

As I closed the door behind me, I was knocked over by a blur of red. The blur and I went tumbling to the floor and I felt my side ache. Uh oh.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" A voice snapped and the red blur in question scrambled off of me.

I ignored it and put a hand to my shirt. It was slightly damp with fresh blood. Luckily it was black. But it was new. That caused me to snap back into reality. I glared up at the red haired boy who'd bowled me over.

"Me? I was stepping out of a fucking doorway! You're the one that appeared out of nowhere and knocked me over!"

"Whatever." He growled. "Just stay out of my way." With that he stalked off about a metre to his locker. Number 205.

I looked down at my assigned locker. 204. I groaned, but refused to let it get the better of me.

Not meeting eye contact I opened my new locker next to cuddly-as-a-cactus and muttered a few obscenities.

"You're new, right?"

"Goddamn why is it so obvious to people?"

He smirked. "You do look a little lost behind that facade."

"I do not." I hissed, my side was starting to hurt a lot, but I knew it wasn't bad. I'd probably lost a stitch or two. The doc had told me not to worry too much about that. He had however told me not to stress or worry.

"So that makes you Addison Richards?"

I stopped. "How do you know that? Not even perky boy knew my name and I'm assuming he knows just about everything about everyone."

"Well perky boy as you so rightfully put it, doesn't look through other people's files." Commence stressing and worrying.

My stomach dropped. He'd read my file? So he knew?

"Woah there, Kiddo. Don't look so frightened. I didn't get to read anywhere past your name, age and measurements." He winked. "But with the look on your face I'm beginning to sense I'm missing out on your back story. Next time perky steps out of the office I'll check up on you. Sound good?"

"D-don't." I mumbled but he was already sauntering away. The only logical sentence I could form was, "They wouldn't put my measurements in my file!"

He called back without even turning to look at me. "They needed them for your gym uniform. You have gym second period by the way. It's Co-Ed, so I'll see you there."

* * *

Don't forget to review if you like it or if there's something I could improve on! Feel free to give me any suggestions


	2. My Clown Head

**Disclaimer: I own nothing! Except my character, Addison. I honestly wouldn't mind if I did own Castiel... yum... but I don't.**

_And it is in hiding that we seem to find our allies._

_-Unknown_

So far, the principal thought my name was Calder, a boy's name I was pretty sure, because I'd been too afraid to correct her and I'd met two boys I wanted to strangle. Seemed that my first day was going swell.

Speaking of swell, as more students filed into the school, the raised, purple bruises on my face were getting some serious attention. Very, veeeeery unwanted attention.

I had completely forgotten to check for concealer. What an idiot move, Addison. I hadn't seen any in the apartment bathroom anyways. Maybe I could befriend the kind of girl who carried enough liquid foundation to ice a cake on her at all times.

So far, the principal and the two dweebs were the only people I'd spoken to. I was sinking very deep into the same social awkward habits that had plagued my past school social life. I just avoided everyone's gaze and avoided speaking and avoided just about anything that involved human contact.

When the bell rang and I had to actually stop wandering around the school aimlessly and do something I was struck with panic. Where was my first class? Hell, what was my first class?

I bet redhead would know. Urg. Strangle strangle strangle.

My side was still throbbing where my array of stitches had come slightly undone. Not because the doctor had done a bad job, if anything I was the one who had messed it all up. It was the angle and the placement of the wound that caused the stitches to rip and tear and hurt like a bitch.

The timetable Nathaniel had given me informed me that my first class was English. Decent. At least I was good at English. One of the few classes I didn't have to sleep through.

Okay that was a lie. I did pretty well in school, I'd never slept through a class in my life.

I plonked down in the only available chair next to an orange haired girl the teacher called "Iris".

"Hey, are you Addison?" She asked, before the final bell rang.

"Yup, that's me."

"I'm Iris, like the flower, or the Goo-Goo Dolls song. Whichever you prefer, really."

I grinned at that. "Definitely the song."

"Aha, so you're a music fan, huh?"

"Yeah, just don't tell the blond boy or he'll make my join something."

She laughed. "Nathaniel's not that bad. He's very committed to his work."

I smiled, I could tell instantly that there was probably no person on the planet who could do wrong by this girl. It seemed like a good place to start.

"So, I take it by your sarcastic tone you're enjoying yourself so far?" She grinned.

I laughed. "You have no idea."

"Which direction did you come from? You must have been walking against the wind for a while for so many things to hit your face."

Wait. What? "What do you mean?"

"Those bruises, you must have gotten hit by lots of things outside. There's a lot of litter out there, the Gardening club is working on that. Hey, do you want to cover those up? I carry concealer with me just in case." She thought that flying debris had hit my face and caused it to bruise. Sure, why not? I hadn't thought up a better excuse. It didn't really explain the stitches on my forehead, maybe she'd just ignored those.

"Iris you're a saint, I love you already."

She passed me the bottle of the makeup and I excused myself to go to the bathroom. Lucky I was pasty enough to pull of her shade of concealer otherwise I would have looked like one of those geisha girls.

When I stepped out of the classroom I saw a massive cloud of designer clothing and fake tans headed in my general direction. Really it was just three girls but my over-active imagination was saying otherwise. The swarm stopped and looked at me.

"Look at the new girl." The ringleader purred, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder. "Where are those bruises from, hun? Boyfriend issues?"

"Flying debris." I blurted before I could stop myself. _Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Instead of walking away like you should have, you spaz out._

"Poor girl, look at how she's blushing. I bet she asked for those bruises, for attention." The blonde smirked.

My hands balled into fists. I willed myself not to punch her in her snarky little face. The poetic justice side of me argued that _she _was asking for a shiner or two, but I shushed it.

"Well, it's been lovely meeting you." I said through gritted teeth and pushed past them into the bathroom.

I angrily swiped at Iris's thick makeup and stabbed it onto my face, causing the injuries to throb a little bit. How dare that girl? She didn't even know me, yet she judged me as easily as if I had a sign on my face that said 'Yup, I'm a loser. Make fun of me ASAP'.

A quick glance at the bottom of each stall and I deduced that I was alone.

Good job Nancy Drew, what next?

I exhaled and looked at my face in the mirror again. Better, you could just barely see the marks now. There was a small blob of makeup on the tip of my nose but I swiped it away and the look was believable.

My side really was hurting though. I lifted up my shirt and poked a stitch that had come undone. What was it with me and promoting my own pain?

"Ouch." I growled and dropped the shirt over my skin again. "Stupid idea."

I opened the door and was headed back towards English when a voice stopped me. "I didn't peg you as the kind of girl to tend to your face like religion."

Ah, potential murder victim had returned, in all his red haired glory.

I opened my mouth to retort and then shook my head and stalked towards class.

"Sure, run away." His voice came from right behind me. "But you can't hide." He said it in a mock-spooky voice. The kind parents use on their children when taunting them about Halloween or something.

I shuddered. What. A. Freak. His comment rolled down my spine like ice. I scuttled into class and was horrified to find that he walked in too.

Iris shot me a sympathetic look when I sat down next to her again. "I see you've met one of our more charming students."

"Not exactly the word I'd use." I sighed and passed her back the concealer.

The English teacher informed us of what we would be doing throughout the semester, Shakespeare and short stories and all that other jazz that made redhead groan loudly.

"Castiel if you cannot control yourself I'm sending you to the office." The teacher stammered. She was quite young, mousy features and blonde hair pulled back into a tight ponytail.

"I wouldn't mind if you controlled me ma'am." He shot her a wink.

She was obviously flustered by his comment and took a few seconds to collect herself. "Anyways, as I was saying..."

It went on like that for the rest of the period. She would say one thing, and he would reply with some kind of innuendo and turn and grin at me as though I was making the jokes with him. I'd shoot him a glare that would surely incinerate him (if only looks could kill). Repeat cycle.

We got nothing done in English.

Next period, as redhead had so brilliantly predicted, was gym class. Co-Ed.

I found the girl's change rooms easily enough and found my uniform in a bin with my name on it. It was blue and white, Sweet Amoris' colours of 'pride'. A few girls smiled at me and one with dark skin just saluted me and introduced herself as Kim. I awkwardly mumbled that I was the Addison the new girl.

"Oh, so you're the one everyone's talking about?" She said. Suddenly all eyes in the change room were on me.

"Uh... no?"

"Yeah! You're the one that's got those weird scratches and a limp and two broken arms and a neck brace. It's fair to say that rumours circulate pretty quickly once Amber starts them." She scoffed. "You must have pissed her off somehow."

Instantly I felt as though I'd joined a club. The other girls nodded in sympathy, muttering about how Amber started rumours about everyone, that I shouldn't take it personally.

"Thanks." I said. "I ran into her and her trail of destruction in the hallway already. She does say some pretty awful things."

"That's just how she is. I also heard that one of her little followers, the dark haired one, saw you lift up your shirt and there was this massive scar there."

Wait. What? The bathroom door hadn't made any noise when I'd came in, it was also partially hidden by a wall. Was it possible that someone had snuck in while I was putting on concealer and I hadn't noticed? No one would believe that, would they?

Then I remembered that I had to change in front of all these girls. Well. Fuck.

"That's ridiculous." I backed towards the bathroom stalls. "I can't believe someone would say that."

"Me neither." Agreed Kim, but she looked a little wary of me.

All of the girls smiled at me awkwardly when I failed to change in front of them and instead moved towards the bathroom stalls in the back. I slipped the cheap fabric on, the uniform was a t-shirt and shorts and fit me perfectly. Most likely because the school had gotten hold of my measurements.

No, I forced the thought out of my mind. It was merely a fib thought up by the ever-so-imaginative clown head boy.

Clown head? Good one. I rolled my eyes at my lame thought process and strode into the gym. It was quite large for such a small school. Clown head winked at me from the basketball net a few feet away. Then again, the gym did obviously had to have enough space for the massive ego I seemed to encounter constantly.

"Hey, Scarface!" I looked back over at Castiel to see a ball rapidly flying towards my face. I braced for impact. I'd taken many hits to the face over the years, this wouldn't be so bad.

It hit me square on and I stumbled backwards, lost my balance and wound up on my butt. Okay, that hurt. I also hadn't thought about all the concealer it might tear off in the process.

"You're supposed to catch the ball with your hands, Scarface, not with that pretty little face of yours."

"Give me a bit of warning next time and maybe I'll have a chance." I growled, rubbing my face.

Again, I forgot that I was wearing a stupid amount of makeup. I looked up at Castiel, suddenly horrified. Who knows what he'd come up with.

"That must have hit you pretty hard, you're bruising already." He grinned. "Glad to see I didn't lose any power in my good arm over summer holidays."

"Of course you'd worry about that." I sighed.

"So where did you get that scar?" He asked. "You aren't taking the Harry Potter fandom to a frightening new level, are you?" He knelt down in front of me in his uniform which showed off some seriously killer biceps... and triceps... and-wait no. Stop looking. Bad Addison.

"No." I snapped. "I just um. Slipped."

"You seem like a total spaz so I'll leave it, but I don't believe it." He said, smirking.

Then he stood and offered me his hand. "I think I'll start making a list of facts about you, Scarface. Fact one: freaks out over past. Fact two: lies about scar on forehead." He was teasing me. I hated him for it.

I stood up, ignoring his hand and strode confidently away.

"Fact three: does not accept gestures of kindness from a gentleman. Tisk tisk."

We warmed up a little longer, shooting on the various basketball nets. I, however, just focussed on dribbling the basketball and not losing it. Castiel didn't bother trying to hide his laughter.

He practically danced around me with his basketball. He made every basket he shot. A few girls in the corner were swooning over him yet his entire attention was focussed on me and I didn't want it.

"What's wrong, Scarface, are you having trouble concentrating?"

"Yes."

"Is it 'cause I'm too attractive?"

"It's because you're constantly in my way." I sighed.

"You're no fun, Scarface." He said with mock disappointment.

"Yet here you are, still bothering me." I countered.

He shrugged. "I've already bothered everyone else."

How surprising.

Another boy dribbled over. He was also gorgeous with his dark skin, hair in perfect cornrows and deep amber eyes. "Stop bothering people, Castiel. Let's go one on one."

By the time I stopped drooling Castiel had been dragged away to bother the other angel – I mean boy – for a while.

Fine by me.

It was then that the teacher told us that we would be playing girls versus boys basketball today because he hated all those "get to know you games". So did I, but I hated basketball.

It seemed I just couldn't win.

I stood next to Kim awkwardly and asked her what I should do.

"Just get in Castiel's and Dajan's way. Stop them from shooting at any cost. If you aren't confident about your aim, pass to any of us."

"Great."

The whistle was blown and instantly Dajan had the ball and was dodging expertly around me. I stood there and watched hopelessly as he passed the ball to Castiel who shot and landed a perfect basket.

Kim growled and Dajan grinned at her.

Everyone set up and the whistle went again, this time Kim got a hold of the ball and powered towards the net. She passed to a brown haired girl who shot but missed. The ball flew towards me. I caught it and looked around wildly for someone to pass to. Castiel ran towards me and stood in front of me, blocking my way.

"Can't you make this a little easy on me?" I hissed, holding the ball protectively against my chest.

"Where's the fun in that, Scarface?"

Kim appeared beside me and I passed to her and poked my tongue out at Castiel.

"How mature." He grinned and moved after Kim who was racing towards the net.

He stole the ball out of her hands and got another basket. I was about ready to quit.

When the class ended we'd lost by a number I really don't want to admit. Kim looked pissed off so I avoided her. To my disappointment she stormed into the bathroom and started throwing things around. I was forced to change in front of everyone.

I kept the most of my injuries facing the wall, including the massive run up my side and changed quickly. Probably a little too quickly because I felt another little rip in my stitches.

"Goddammit." I hissed. Quickly I put my normal shirt back on. I received a few worried glanced and a group of them were whispering to each other.

I decided that I was being paranoid. No one suspected a thing. I was a normal girl at a normal school. But at the same time, that wasn't true. I had every right to be paranoid. The frog in the water had to worry at some point, right? It had to wonder why it was slowing down, why people looked at it oddly, like they pitied it. Like they knew it's time was beginning to run out.

I tried to banish thoughts of frogs and hot water from my mind for my next class, whatever it was.

When I checked my schedule I saw that my next class was math and I groaned. No. Absolutely not was I going to handle that today. Sure, the first day we'd probably only play silly math games and trade phone numbers but I just wasn't up for it. I was already tired and I needed someplace no one could spy on me to check my stitches.

I found myself climbing the stairs mechanically, as though I'd been programmed to so until I came to the third floor. I didn't think a lot of people would bother climbing up the stairs unless they had a class up there, but as usual I was wrong.

I had paused to look up at the stairs leading to the roof of the building. The door at the top was partially ajar, held open by something. I was trying to figure out why it would be open when I saw Amber and her glitter thugs coming down the hall towards me.

_Back downstairs I go._ I thought bitterly when I noticed the principal practically crawling up the steps towards me. She hadn't seen me yet. I didn't want her to know I was cutting class on the first day of school. She was way too cute to be disappointed with me.

It was either Amber or the principal. If I went with Amber I'd probably be stopped in the hallway and then made fun of until the principal showed up to scold me. If I went with the principal, it would be the other way around.

So I did the bold thing and dashed up the stairs on to the roof. The first thing I noticed was that it was fucking freezing, I'd left my coat in my locker.

Oh well, I'd only need a few minutes until the principal and Amber left.

The second thing I noticed was that I wasn't alone. What was he doing up here?

I turned to head back downstairs and never return to the roof when I slipped on the loose gravel and went down with a rather unattractive 'oomph'.

Castiel's head snapped around. He looked angry.

"What are you doing up here?" He snapped.

"I could ask you the same thing." I mumbled, a bit put off by his change of temper.

His eyes, however, softened.

"I like it up here." He shrugged. "And I hate math."

Uh oh. "Wait, I have math with you too?"

He snickered. "You just can't win, can you Scarface?"

"Not today, apparently." I moved to stand next to him, leaning against the railing and looking down over the trees.

"It can only get worse, kiddo." He grinned, staring down at a few people gathered outside. "For instance, take those poor souls in the horticulture class. They aren't allowed mittens when they touch the plants because Mrs. Conestia thinks that they hurt the plants. So they're freezing right now."

They weren't the only ones. I shivered.

He looked over at me with mild concern in his dark eyes. Wordlessly he removed his jacket and I was granted with a stunning shot of his arms again. I was momentarily stunned until he waved the jacket around in my face. I blushed and took it. It smelled like spice and something a little sweet that I couldn't put my finger on.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm too hot for that jacket anyways." He smirked.

"Really? And here I thought your ego was just a few sizes too big."

"Ooooh. Good one, Scarface. You really do get more and more charming as the day wears on."

"I could say the same about you, clown head." I muttered.

"What?"

"Oh nothing."

There was another long pause until he cracked a huge smile.

"So math class huh? Maybe now I have someone to irritate I should start going to that class."

"Very funny."

THEY'RE SO PERFECT CRIES.

Please review! Next chapter coming soon!


	3. My Rooftop Bonding

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own character Addison and her ridiculously sarcastic sense of humour.**

**Thanks so much for the reviews guys! They've been really positive and really sweet so far! Most of you seem to really like the story and Addison which is awesome. **

_And this hiding bird is a caged bird, does she sing where monsters dwell?_

_-Unknown_

"If it weren't such a shit day, we could lie down and look at the clouds." I said.

"Well we could look at the clouds." He suggested. "It's just there isn't much to look at when the whole sky is grey."

"What do you do up here?" I asked, shifting some gravel beneath my shoe. It was strange. For the majority of the day all I'd wanted to do was punch someone (mainly this guy) in the face and now here we were talking like old friends on the roof of the school.

"I practice guitar usually. I'd hate to bore you though. I bet you'd be more interested in writing about blond boy in a diary or something." That damn smirk again.

"Are you kidding me?" I glared, standing up straight with my hands on my hips.

"Yeah, you didn't seem to like our dearest angel Nathaniel when I spoke to you before."

"He seems like the kind of preppy asshole I would have avoided before I came here."

"Oh really? Then what am I, Scarface?"

"The asshole I definitely would have avoided." I grinned. He just shook his head, smiling and turned his attention back to the ground below us. "I meant about the guitar though. I'm a huge music fan."

"Fact number four: Claims she likes music."

"I do." I said. "I would have liked to learn how to play the guitar but I'm a total spaz at strumming so I went with the piano instead. And the drums, my um, my Dad had a drum kit in the basement at my old house. Then of course I also-." I stopped, laughing nervously.

"What?" He asked.

"I sing."

His eyebrows shot up. "Do tell."

"Nope. That's it really. I sing. The end."

Bah. The end? My singing was what freed me. Those past few months before it all went to hell and I was shipped here I felt like a caged bird. I was imprisoned and losing myself so quickly between the iron bars that I began to forget who I was. When I sang however, I was entirely found again.

It may sound lame to anyone who hasn't experienced it. But when I sang and closed my eyes I felt free, brought back to earth. Whereas before I'd just been floating in space somewhere trying to ignore the world below me.

Castiel plonked down beside me, shaking me out of my reverie. I hadn't even noticed that I'd sat down.

He held a guitar in his arms, an acoustic.

"I thought you'd be an electric guitar kind of guy."

"I have several, but it would be a real shame if I brought it all the way up here and then couldn't plug it in, don't you think?"

"Oh. Yeah."

"So you sing, huh?" He asked, beginning to strum the chords for something hauntingly familiar.

Of course. It was fucking Greensleeves.

"Yup."

"Sing this."

"I don't know it." Lie.

"Liar." He grinned wickedly at me.

That evil demon clown. Everyone knows Greensleeves, he knew that.

"N-no way. I am not singing."

"Yes you will, Scarface or I'll chuck you over the side of the building."

"That's just rude." I laughed, shaking my head at him.

"Fact five: Touchy about singing."

"Fact six: About to punch Castiel in the face."

He stopped playing and chuckled. "You know, this could all be avoided if you just sang for me."

I debated it. No one would hear, we were up on the roof after all. And it's not like any teachers would be stupid enough to have their windows open on a day this freezing. On the other hand, no no no and just more no. What if I messed up?

The bell rang and I stood up so quick I almost lost my balance. He burst out laughing, I ignored him.

"Oops, darn it. I guess I gotta go now." I scuttled through the door and stumbled clumsily down the stairs.

"Hey!" He shouted after here. "You'd better be up here at lunch, Scarface or there'll be hell to pay."

I stopped. The lunch bell was going to go in about ten minutes.

"I hate you." I called up.

No response.

"Alright I'm coming. I'm coming." I could picture his evil grin.

When I went downstairs to get my lunch I received some pretty strange looks. Even weirder than usual. The girls looked at me with jealousy and the boys looked like they'd lucked out or something.

It was when I ran into Amber that I finally understood.

I was at my locker when a high pitched scream sounded from behind me.

"You!" I turned to see Amber and friends charging towards me. She pointed an accusing finger at me. "How dare you wear that!"

I looked down and realized I was still wearing Castiel's leather jacket. My face flushed red. That explained a lot.

I simply nodded as Amber went on with her rant. When she found she could get no reaction out of me she called me boring and stormed off, leaving me to assess the situation.

In one day I'd flirted with an attractive but douchy student council member and started parading around in a rebel's jacked. Facepalm. I might as well be labelling myself for school-wide hate. At least from the females. Mind you, no one knew about the thing with Nathaniel, so that made it somewhat better.

Still, I was wearing Castiel's jacket as if it was one of my own. That was a pretty big no-no.

So how would I solve this problem, you ask? Would I be mature and assure everyone that we hadn't been doing silly things on the roof and that the jacket was only because I was cold? Would I shove the jacket in my locker and never bring it out again?

None of the above. I ran back upstairs with my lunch and my coat as fast as I could and avoided everyone's gazes.

When I sheepishly stepped back on to the roof he greeted me with a knowing grin.

"Couldn't stay away? That was record timing."

"Don't let it go to your head. I'm on the run from Amber."

He patted the spot next to him eagerly. I removed his jacket and tossed it to him, slipping on my own.

"Ah, now let me guess. She saw my jacket and threatened to rip you to shreds?"

"Accurate." I sighed. I sat down and began to chow down on the contents of my lunch. He pulled an apple out of his bag and took a bite. Occasionally he would stop and stare into space and smile at what he saw there.

Maybe he saw me floating around like an idiot.

When he'd finished, he picked up the guitar again and started plucking out a beautiful melody. He hummed along a little off key, his hair fell into his face, covering his eyes.

My stomach kept telling me that I was finding it attractive. It demonstrated this by twisting into knots that would make a boy scout cringe.

I mentally scolded myself, I was being a total derpenstein. _Just calm down, yes he's pretty. Yes his arms are- no stop looking- um... also pretty. Caaaalm down Addison. Woah girl._

He started to play a tune I recognized again. This time however, no Greensleeves.

"So. You left this behind." He nodded towards my iPod which sat on his thigh.

I had one of those universal "should I reach for it?" moments. One twitch of my hands and it would have seemed like I wasn't reaching for the iPod at all, but a more private part of his body. My iPod would live, it could stay for a little while longer.

"Okay. May I have it back?"

"Yeah in a sec.. I had a listen to some of your music."

Oh noooo.

"Seems like we pretty much have the same taste."

Oh yaaaay.

He grinned. "Recognize this?"

He started playing none other than Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls. Where was my beautiful orange-haired companion when I needed her?

"_You_ like this song?" I asked.

"Yeah _I _do." He replied, mimicking my voice.

"Why'd you pick this one?"

"Because I wanna hear you sing the chorus."

"NO." I moved to stand but he stopped playing to yank me back down by the bottom of my jacket. I landed on my butt for the second time that day and the gravel bit into my palms. "I am not singing for you."

"But why not? You said you sing, so sing."

"I like to sing when I need to feel it. And I don't like being judged or-."

"Hey, Scarface. I'm not going to judge you. You heard my attempt at singing."

That was true. But it had somehow sounded perfect. Lame Addison. Soooo lame.

I was raging war between singing and not singing inside my head. I wanted to but I didn't at the same time. I was held back by the fear I would fail miserably.

"Come on, Scarface. It's just a rooftop jam session. Now get ready, it's chorus time."

Awe what the hell.

"And I don't want the world to see me, 'cause I don't think that they'd understand. When everything's made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am." The words and the melody came easily after years of listening to the song. I was about to move on to the second verse when the guitar stopped.

I looked up from the ground to find Castiel staring at me. The blood rushed to my face. The expression he wore was intense.

"Um."

"More."

"What?"

"Sing more."

"Then keep playing?"

"Oh yeah, right." He stammered. He actually stammered. Mr. Smooth-clown-head was momentarily as verbally spastic as I. The apocalypse must have been nearby.

Instead of playing the second verse though, he launched into a different song.

"Is this-?"

"Wonderwall by Oasis. I found it on your iPod as well."

"And you like it?"

"No. I know it on the guitar because I hate it." He rolled his eyes.

"Then you sir, make no sense."

"Shut up and sing, Scarface." He growled playfully.

I considered asking how he wanted me to do both at the same time but refrained and just sang instead. I knew all the words.

When we finished that one we launched into a massive Mumford and Sons marathon of music. I couldn't help grinning the whole way though, it was the most fun I'd had in a while.

The roof door opened at some point during 'The Cave' and my head snapped up to see who it was.

It was a white haired boy. He wore Victorian clothing and had one green eye and one coppery one. Castiel stopped playing and nodded at him.

"I knew I'd find you up here Cas." The boy said with a slight smile. "I didn't think you'd have company."

"Hey Lysander, this is Scarface. Scarface this is Lysander."

"What a charming nickname he's given you." Lysander chuckled.

My first thought upon being introduced to him was, _Why is everyone here so damn attractive?_

"So Lys, how long have you been listening for?"

Wait. "What?" I squeaked.

"Just since the beginning of 'Awake My Soul'." Lysander shrugged.

"That was three songs ago!"

"Calm down Scarface." Castiel sighed. "Lysander isn't going to judge you either."

"True." Lysander agreed. "But if I were to judge you I'd say you were pretty damn good. Better than damn good really."

Commence blushing like an idiot.

"Err, thanks."

"That's a lot coming from Lysander. He's the singer of our band."

"You guys have a band?"

"Yup, we aren't half that bad either." Lysander grinned.

"Bad? We're fucking great." Castiel poked me in the arm, effectively ruining my one-sided staring competition with Lysander's face. "Come back to earth airhead."

Earth. Right. Urg, but now in order to seem as though I hadn't just been staring I had to come up with some clever line to insert myself back into the conversation. What were we talking about? Oh right. Band. What do you say to two attractive boys who have a band? I like your arms? I like your abs?

So began the inner lecture.

_Addison! You haven't even seen their abs. Hell, you haven't seen your own abs (they're shy) let alone the beautiful muscles of two beautiful boys. Now speak woman. Say something, there's been a giant lapse in the conversation._

"Lemme see." I blurted out, their faces lit with the same expression of confusion. Oops, still thinking about muscles. "Um. The band. Let me see the band." I felt the blood rush to my cheeks yet again.

They shared a look. "Um. Maybe." Lysander muttered.

"Awe come on Lys, she's cool."

"I'm cool?" I asked eagerly, nudging him with my elbow.

"Don't let it go to that pretty little head of yours." He nudged back.

"Huh, I think that's the second time you've indirectly called me pretty today." I batted my eyelashes at him.

"Dream on, Scarface." Castiel growled, grinning at me.

Lysander smirked down at us. "I'd better be best man when you two get married."

"Ha ha." Castiel said sarcastically.

You know that moment when a guy and a girl become fast friends and then someone makes some comment and suddenly it's awkward? Yeah, we fit that bill.

Awkward clearing of throats? Check.

Avoiding each other's gaze? Check.

Face flushing? I wasn't sure about his because I was busy avoiding his gaze, but I felt mine go hot. Check.

Lysander realized he must have made a mistake because he quickly changed the subject.

"Yeah you seem alright. Addison, is it-?"

"Scarface." Castiel cut him off to add in my torturous nickname. What a darling.

"Don't be rude Castiel. Anyways you seem alright, we practice after school if you really want to watch. I'm sure this one wouldn't mind showing off on a real guitar." He jabbed a finger at Castiel who just shrugged and picked up the acoustic again.

"This seems real to me. The guitar." He countered, and I became aware he was playing a Death Cab for Cutie song. Goodness the universe was trying to melt me today.

I shivered again and looked up at the grey sky while they argued about guitars and the intensity of their band. A few vibrant leaves swirled in my vision like tiny orange ballerinas. It was strange how calm, how at home I felt on the roof listening to the seemingly distant sound of their voices.

I was vaguely aware of the fact that I had zoned off more times than I cared to admit during the day. Thank you kindly, lack-of-sleep.

The bell rang and I stood.

"What classes do have now, Scarface?" Castiel asked.

"Vocals. Then science."

"See you in vocals." Lysander said at the same time that Castiel teased, "See you in science."

I groaned.

Vocals went by too quickly. There were only about ten people in the class so we spent our first class talking about our music preferences. I learned that despite singing different types of music Lysander secretly like classical.

"I'd better not hear anyone say that outside of class. That goes double for you, Kara." He said, winking at a shy looking black-haired girl. She blushed. AAAAAAAWE.

"I'd better be maid of honour at your wedding." I said, mimicking his tone from earlier.

"Very funny." He rolled his eyes.

Like I said. Vocals was fun, it went by really quickly. Science on the other hand went as slowly as a very sleep deprived sloth.

The teacher was crabby and old and it took him about a minute to finish each sentence. I looked around for Castiel but he wasn't there. Meanie. If he'd told me I would have skipped this class too.

Maybe he wanted some alone time. I understood that, but I couldn't help but feel a little offended.

Don't get me wrong, I adore science. I'm a total geek, and the first two minutes of that class was interesting. Then the man started talking in turtle mode and it all went downhill from there.

I passed the time by doodling stick people and writing out song lyrics. My mind began to wander.

On my first day I'd made a few friends. Auntie would be so proud when I told her. We'd had a brief chat a week or so ago about how horrid I was at making friends.

"Oh Addison don't say that."

"It's true."

"Well yes, but still!"

I sighed dramatically and she shoved the last piece of coffee cake towards me.

"You just don't try to make friends."

"That's not-."

"It's true, Addie, I know you." She reached over and touched my hair gently. "Now. Perhaps actually speaking to these students on your first day would be a good plan?"

I'm sure when she wanted me to make friends by any method she hadn't meant for me to skip my first math class. But still. That was two friends on the rooftop, one friend in English, maybe one in gym if Kim didn't blame our basketball failure on me.

Did Nathaniel count? Maybe. I'd spoken to him but he just seemed a little too... school spirit-y. The kind that made me nauseous.

The bell rang, I looked up in shock.

"You alright there, Scarface. You look a little surprised." Castiel commented from his locker next to mine.

"I've survived my first day in this hellhole. Shocker."

He grinned. "Don't be modest. You belong here." It was a tone that reminded quite a bit of Nathaniel's. I giggled.

I had decided not to talk to him about science. I wasn't going to let him know that it had ticked me off a little that he hadn't been there.

Also, it was none of my damn business how he spent his time. He could be doing the Macarena up there on that roof for all I cared. A small mental image was formed and I couldn't suppress the smile on my face.

"What?" He asked.

"Oh nothing, I'm just excited to hear the band is all."

That was a silly place to end it. I'M SORRY. I rewrote this chapter several times and I'm still not all that fond of it. Next chapter will be up soon guys! All my love :)


	4. My Panic Room

**HEY. So sorry this took so long I'm lazy and I had massive writers block and enough excuses wah I'm sorry I love you all guys.**

**Also two quotes today because they both fit with the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I own none of these characters except for Addison**

_I don't care what anyone says. Distraction, in the form of friends, is the best medicine._

_- Unknown_

_Yes the caged bird sings, and she also flaps her wings, but only when the phoenix is around, for he chases the monsters away._

_-Unknown_

It turned out that Castiel and Lysander's band mates couldn't make it to their practice today.

Apparently, that didn't give me permission to leave. Not from clown head anyways. Lysander told me that I could go home, there wasn't anything exciting going on today.

"No way, Scarface." Castiel pulled me back down in my seat when I stood and reached for my coat. "Stay a while."

Lysander sighed and got to his feet. "Let her go, Cas. I'm leaving too."

"Yeah and I'm not staying here alone with you." I said, sticking my tongue out at him.

"How rude. I'll just half to walk you home then." I choked for about two minutes, it turned into a coughing fit. Castiel patted me awkwardly on the back which really didn't help my face stop reddening.

Lysander rolled his eyes and left to find me some water, or maybe he just left. I'm honestly not sure.

Either way, it was just us two. Castiel snickering and me just trying to breathe. His close proximity wasn't making it very easy.

"So I take it by that you don't want me to walk you home then?" He asked.

"So that beautiful demonstration of my lung capacity said it for me?" I batted my eyes at him.

He rolled his eyes. "Nope... well yes. But I'm still walking you home."

"What? Why?"

"Because I'm walking that way anyways."

"How do you know which way I walk home?" Had he been sneaking through my files again? That little creep. Wait. How much had he read? Had he read the doctor's notes? The lawyer's reports? The case file? So what did he know now?

"I saw you come that way this morning." He said.

Oh.

"That was you on the roof?"

"No. The other redhead with the keys." He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Where'd you get the keys from?" I asked, stuffing my arm into the sleeve of my jacket. "You don't seem like the kind of guy to get along with much of anyone let alone the janitorial staff."

"Very funny, Scarface, the janitors happen to like me." He was watching me with slightly amused eyes as I struggled into the coat. "Do you need some help?"

My sleeve was all twisted in some kind of impassable knot and I was very, incredibly stuck and beginning to flail around and flap my arm like some kind of possessed chicken. Yes. I needed help, mental help to boot.

"Nope. I'm doing perfectly fine. In fact, any time you feel like leaving I'd be really-."

He sighed and stepped closer to me, taking my tangled sleeve and twisting it back to normal.

My hand got wedged beside the pair of gloves I'd stuffed in just in case it got colder, he reached in and pulled them out before finding my hand.

"There. Better?"

"Y-yes. Thank you." I stammered, absolutely refusing to meet his eyes. I'm sure my face was heating up. He was still holding on to my hand, his thumb pressed into my palm.

There was a stirring in the pit of my stomach that made me feel very queasy as well as very nervous and just a teeny bit excited.

Just a teeny little massive amount of a lot.

Oh nooooo.

"Hey, back to earth, Scarface. We gotta walk home."

"We?"

He poked me in the shoulder, dropping my hand and held the classroom door open, giving a little bow.

"Such a gentleman." I rolled my eyes.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you." We walked down the hall side-by-side and I got very concerned look from a blond boy peeping out of the student council room.

"Uh oh. I know that look." Castiel smirked. "It seems like somehow you've worried out dearest Nathaniel."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked after we'd passed him.

"It means that he's scared that I've started corrupting you."

"Ah, so he's on the right track?"

"Ouch. I haven't even started trying to irritate you yet." He grinned.

"Oh please, don't be modest."

We pushed out the doors into the chilling autumn wind. I put on my faded blue gloves and breathed in the air.

It had that wintery feeling to it, the kind of air that burns your lungs and feels beautifully crisp. It made me want to dance around and throw leaves and burst into some kind of musical number.

I must have made a strange face, because Castiel looked at me funny.

"So. Where do you live?" I asked, for some reason the awkward silence we were walking in was completely ruining my mood.

"A house."

"Ah. And here I thought you lived with your motorcycle cult under a bridge." I rolled my eyes.

"You get some pretty strange thoughts, Scarface." He teased. "I live on Westend." I remembered that street. I thought it was weird that it was written Westend instead of West End. It was irksome. "Just past those cute little apartments, actually."

Cute little apartment number A27 was the one I inhabited. He lived _just_ past them? What qualified as just?

"I live in those apartments." I said, my voice flat.

"All alone?" I wasn't sure if he was concerned or amused.

"Yeah, well no. My Aunt drops in every now and then."

"Your Aunt? What about your parents?"

Nooooo not that question please. Commence evasive answers.

"What about them?"

"Where are they?"

"Depends which one."

"Where's your Mom?"

I couldn't suppress my wince. "She died."

"I'm sorry."

"It isn't your fault, not unless you were somehow driving the truck that ran her down and then drove off."

I was giving away a little more detail than I intended and I couldn't figure out why. Was it because I trusted Castiel a little more than I cared to admit? Possibly.

There was just something relatable about him. I felt like I could talk to him for ages, about anything. It was probably the stupidest notion I'd ever considered in my entire life, but it felt right.

"A hit and run? Really? Did they ever find out who did it?"

I shook my head. Knowing if I said anything that whatever words tumbled out of my mouth would contain my rage and frustration and probably the loneliness. The ache, as my subconscious had named it.

"That's-." He struggled for the right words. "Shitty."

I laughed, it was dry and empty, but still there.

"Yeah. Yeah you could say that."

"What about your Dad?"

"Not sure where he is. On the run, somewhere."

"On the run? From who? The police?"

I nodded, swiping some hair out of my face.

"Why?"

"'Cause he's a bad person?" I attempted lamely.

"Hey." He put a hand on my shoulder. "It's fine. You don't have to tell me. I'll stop asking questions now."

I breathed a sigh of relief. He pulled out my iPod and put it in my gloved hand. "You almost left behind your prized possession, Scarface."

I grabbed it and held it against my chest.

"My baaaaaby."

"You're a weirdo."

I just grinned.

Above us, the sky rumbled. I shuddered. Thunderstorms were not my preferred weather. Rain? Sure. Loud noises and flashing lights? No way.

"Have you heard about it?" He asked, staring up at the sky.

"About what?"

"There's a big scary storm coming." He said.

Brilliant. As if my frog wasn't having enough troubles, out of the pot and into the storm. Then probably back into the boiling pot afterwards. I was having no success.

"When?" I asked, hoping he'd say that it might pass us by, that we'd be lucky enough to be spared. That the frog would live just a tad longer.

_Dear Lord woman, enough with the frog metaphors already._ I though angrily. Apparently my pessimistic ways were still alive and well. Goody.

"It'll hit in a few days they think. Wow." He smiled. "Are we actually so clichéd that we're talking about the weather?"

"Apparently so."

A big clump of leaves was sent flying our way by a young boy and his friends having a leaf fight in the front garden of the apartments. The immediately looked scared.

Castiel opened his mouth, probably to snap at them but I threw a few leaves in his face, stopping him. I didn't want him upsetting the little squirts. They giggled behind me and stopped to watch.

"You brat. I am not going to stoop to your level." He huffed, picking bits of leaves out of his hair.

"Oh really?" I threw another fistful at him.

He growled and lunged at me, I could see him smiling beneath it all, and started tossing the brightly coloured shapes everywhere. They rained down on me like a cloud of vibrant feathers. The sort of things you'd buy in a craft store.

I giggled madly and threw leaves back. It was the most childish thing I had done in a very long time. And also one of the most fun.

At some point the little boys decided to join in and ganged up on Castiel. Obviously I was the preferred tall stranger, I made a mental note to hang it over his head later.

Somehow, he managed to grab my elbow and drag me into the apartment, picking grass and leaves and tree bits out of both my hair and his as we went.

"That was crazy." He grumbled, but he was grinning still. He wasn't even trying to hide it.

"Good fight. I thought you weren't going to stoop to my level though." I said.

"I wasn't going to let those kids think I was a wuss." His voice took on a defensive tone.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes I'd hate for your younger audience to think poorly of you."

"Hmm." He glanced outside. "Doesn't look like I can go outside any time soon with those rascals still out there. Looks like you'll just have to give me a home briefly."

"You can wait down here in the lobby by yourself or tough it out with the 'rascals' like the non-wuss you claim to be."

"Ouch. Look I've even got my guitar, Scarface, we can do some more jamming."

The nervousness grew in my stomach. I remember the doctor saying that in order to learn to trust people again I had to let a few into my life. This was taking it a bit far, wasn't it?

"I've got coke in the fridge if you're thirsty." I growled and led the way upstairs.

"Why do you take the stairs, Scarface? Seems like a bit of a hike depending on what floor you're on."

"The elevator's broken. Even when it's fixed it's cranky and unreliable and we don't have a good relationship."

My first day living in the apartment the elevator got stuck between floors and I was trapped in there for about an hour trying to contact anyone to get me out. As luck would have it a really attractive boy helped me out, noticed how shaken I was and invited me to sit with him a while. As my luck would have it, he was gay. But his boyfriend made some killer gourmet lasagna. I still had a little in my freezer and some of his cookies sat in a beautiful tin on my counter.

Castiel was still chuckling at my elevator story when we reached my door. I dug through my bag for the key and unlocked it. I did a quick sweep of the floor before opening it all the way. I wasn't sure why I was willing my past self not to have left anything on the floor, it wasn't like I was trying to impress Castiel or anything. I'd just met the devilishly handsome guy. Right? Right. Wait what?

Mr. Devilishly handsome pushed past me and gazed around the apartment in wonder.

"Wow. Nice digs, Scarface. You've got this all to yourself?"

"Well, Auntie stays in the guest room when she visits." I blushed. Auntie had also told me that if I really needed to make friends the apartment was the perfect place for a party of the 'teenage hooligan' nature. She made me promise, however unlikely it was that I'd ever have a trashy teenage party, not to do stupid things at it.

I pinky promised.

"Woah." Castiel said from the kitchen. "You're stocked up, Scarface. A guy could get real used to this."

He returned with a large grin and a can of root beer, which he popped open and took a few gulps from.

"Thanks I didn't want one anyways." I shook my head with a smile. "You haven't even seen the best of this place yet."

I practically skipped into the living room which I'd dubbed "the room of awesome" with Castiel following curiously behind me.

"Welcome to Addison's panic room." It was probably the largest room in the apartment but I'd crammed it full of everything I could. The computer was in the far back corner with the TV next to it and the plus blue sofa and coffee table in front of the large screen.

On the other side of the room I'd packed in my beloved keyboard, because my piano wouldn't fit, my drum kit, my microphone and an acoustic guitar. My turntable sat on a shelf surrounded by vinyl and books. It was my safe haven.

"Minus the books, this place is awesome. Your Aunt did all this for you?"

"She knows me best." I shrugged. "She wanted to make this 'new life' kick a little easier on me. So she stuffed my new life full of everything she thought I'd need. Spoiled me rotten."

"Can I live here?" He asked in wonder.

"Nope. This is Addison's panic room, remember? Go get your own."

He sat down on the couch and stared at my new Xbox 360 and the row of games next to it. "You play Borderlands?"

"Like its religion." I admitted. "As well as most of the other games you see there."

Let's get married, Scarface." He was practically drooling over the sight of my turntable. I slapped him on the back of the head.

"Fat chance. What are you, some kind of trophy wife?"

"Of course." He looked up at me, a quizzical expression on his features. "Why do you seem to not be impressed by this place?"

"I am impressed. I've sort of settled in though so I'm used to it." I shrugged. "I don't know it's just not home though. You know?"

"But your home wasn't that great, was it?"

"Well... no."

"So why aren't you in heaven right now?"

"Everything's just so different. Home wasn't bad all the time. Just the majority. The times when it wasn't bad I could just curl up somewhere in the city and despite all the people I'd still be alone. I could think. That was nice. This is a new city and a new apartment. I feel like some village girl someone's stuck in a giant castle and I have no fucking idea what to do with myself."

"Woah. Deep stuff."

I smiled. "Yeah."

"It makes sense though." He pulled out his guitar and started tuning it. "In a weird... Scarface way." He grinned.

"Ha." I rolled my eyes. "Are you hungry or anything?"

"Yes, woman. Get in the kitchen and make me a sandwich."

"Don't be an asshole."

He raised his hands in mock surrender. "Fine, fine. What have you got?"

"I have Kraft Dinner. Pouring that stuff into a bowl and sticking it in the microwave with some water? Yeah, that's my speciality. That and fudge. I make some damn addictive fudge, but only around Christmas."

"Seriously. Next time I'm in the other half of Sweet Amoris I'm buying a ring and we're getting married, Scarface."

"So, Kraft Dinner then?"

"When you get back you pick a song and we'll jam."

"Sounds good. And then Borderlands?"

I laughed. "And then Borderlands."

**WAH I'M SO SORRY IT'S SHORT AND IT TOOK SOOOOOO LONG AND I LOVE YOU ALL. **

**Yeah I really could have done better but I had no plan for this chapter and it kind of fizzled and died multiple times. I'M SORRY.**

**It's just meant to be cute.**

**ANYWAYS, if you have any ideas please let me know and I pinky promise I haven't abandoned this story I've just been uber busy.**

**Don't forget to review and tell me what you like/dislike!**

**(Next chapter will be better I promise I'm so sorry *hides in corner and eats kraft dinner*)**


	5. My Fainting Spell

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing except for Addison.**

**And I'm sorry that this took so long. You have all been INCREDIBLY patient and I love you guys so much 3**

**Your reviews have been so sweet and encouraging so my new year's resolution is to get these chapters up faster for you guys. **

**Again thank you all, you're brilliant. **

I returned to the panic room with two bowls of Kraft Dinner to find Castiel playing something by the White Stripes. When I held out his bowl he looked really excited.

"Are those hotdogs on top?" He asked eagerly.

"You bet. I said KD was my specialty, I wasn't lying."

"Good. I hate lying when it comes to my favourite food."

"Who wouldn't?"

He stabbed at the first hotdog with his fork. "So. Are you really all alone most of the time?"

"Yup."

"Doesn't that get a little...-?"

"Fun, exciting, party-like?"

"Boring, lonely, lame, was what I was going to say."

I shrugged and looked around the panic room. It wasn't as though I ran out of things to do around here. No shortage of cleaning either. It seemed that every time I dusted or vacuumed the thing I'd cleaned became dirty within minutes. Not to mention the fact it was a large space for one human being to clean. At least I got my exercise.

He did have a point, in the big space I felt a tad lonely. With Auntie gone nearly all the time I spent most of my time being an anti-social wreck of a human being.

Oh well, at least I had video games. I sat down wearily and watched him survey the meal like the luckiest boy on the planet. I tried my hardest not to stare but it was a struggle I wasn't winning.

Castiel inhaled the remainder of his food and set the bowl on the coffee table.

He sprawled out on the couch, folded his arms behind his head and set his legs on top of mine.

"Get off me." I growled and tried to push him but his legs remained there.

"But I'm comfy." He argued simply.

I opened my mouth to retort and then snapped it shut. At least he wasn't that heavy.

"So. He sat up and moved his legs, grabbing his guitar. What say you? Some Black Keys perhaps?"

"Uh sure. Which song?"

"That... one song."

"Helpful."

He ran a hand through his hair. "I forget what it's called."

"Well how does it go?"

He sighed and began to sing.

Just like at school, it was slightly off key but I still found it awkwardly fascinating. I recognized it instantly, but waited to tell him the name of the song.

"Little Black Submarines." I muttered, because he'd stopped singing and was looking at me expectantly.

"That's the one! It's got that great solo partway through. Man I love the Keys, they're killer." He played the main part and I started singing again. I tried to not look at him because I was afraid he'd be looking at me and I'd probably forget the words because I'd be melting into a puddle of oh-my-god-he's-just-so-pretty-ness.

When I did look over at him he was looking at me, like I was some kind of alien creature that had dropped onto earth and started juggling spider monkeys.

_Wait. What?_

"Don't stop singing." He pleaded.

"Sorry! I was imagining aliens and spider monkeys." I said quickly, as though that made up for me suddenly forgetting the words.

Thus began the awkward silence.

"You're a weirdo." His phone vibrated in his pocket. "Oh brilliant." He cursed.

"What?"

"Rosalya's having some kind of crisis with Leigh and Lysander would like me to help him fix it. Again."

"Who?"

"Lysander's brother, don't even worry about it. It's totally fine." He shrugged. "Those two have their moments. Anyways, I have to go shout at someone most likely."

Sighing, Castiel stood up and packed his guitar hastily into the case.

"Do you want me to come with you?" I'm not sure if it was because I really didn't want him to leave just yet or because I wanted to meet these new people and just not be alone for an evening, but all of a sudden I just wanted to go with him.

He smiled. "No way, I don't want them to corrupt you just yet, that's my job remember?"

"Right. I almost forgot about the corruption." I rolled my eyes.

"Thanks for the food, we'll have to play Borderlands another time."

He scurried out the door and I was left to wonder if my awkwardness had scared him away.

* * *

After about an hour of flicking through channels and roasting my brain by trying to figure out why people obsessed over the lives of un-evolved primitive alcoholics on television (if you guessed Jersey Shore, gold star to you), I became bored.

And what does Addison do when she's bored? Go outside and enjoy some fresh air?

Aha. Haha. Hahaha. Nope.

I popped Pride and Prejudice into the DVD player, curled up in some blankets and pretty much sobbed over my lack of Mr. Darcy for the next hour and a half.

When that was over, I shuffled (still wrapped in blankets of course) to the freezer for a tub of ice cream, then ambled back to the T.V. for some Princess Bride.

Essentially, I had a fangirl night. Pretty much what I did every night I didn't have homework.

Maybe being so anti-social was my reaction to having an attractiverous maleioseous in the apartment. It certaintly hadn't happened before.

And as far as first days went, it hadn't been the worst time of my life. I'd even sort of kind of maybe made a few friends. Auntie was going to be so proud, I considered calling her to tell her, but she was probably busy or something at work in Tokyo or Paris or wherever they were demanding her presence on that particular trip.

I was excited for the year coming up, I felt as though I was taking a step through some kind of threshold. A happy one. And as tired of reminding myself of that goddamn frog as I was, I thought maybe someone was turning down the heat a little instead of boiling me to death. I had some time to enjoy this.

I fell asleep watching cartoons and had surprisingly happy dreams.

Well. For a few minutes anyways.

_His eyes look fevered, hungry. His forehead glistens with sweat reflecting off my bedroom lamp, the one that casts music notes on my wall._

_I keep my eyes trained on one of those music notes. I don't want to see any of this happen._

_There's a crack and the music note blurs, a white hot pain shoots through my entire body. When I can focus on the music note shadow on the wall again, there's a blood spatter next to it._

_I think this is when I begin to cry._

_Crack. Crack. Crack._

I shot off the couch and smacked my knee against the coffee table in a flurry to untangle my legs from the blankets.

I hobbled into the kitchen, my fingers shakily fumbling for the phone charging on the counter. I punched at the buttons, I had to start over twice, until finally I heard it ring.

It rang. And rang. And the goddamn thing rang some more. Normally I'd hear Auntie's voice by that time. She'd pick up and instantly know that I needed to sob into the phone. But it went to her voicemail.

"Helloooo this is Carol, leave me a message after the tone!" Her voice to me so sickeningly sweet it could give you a cavity, maybe two. But the real Auntie didn't talk like that.

The phone beeped. I debated speaking or not, leaving a brave message that said, "I need you, please call soon." Or even, "Hey, it's Addison. Call me back. Please. ASAP."

I just hung up.

* * *

"Scarface, if you don't pass me that basketball I'll be forced to resort to more aggressive methods." Castiel was dancing around me again.

"So use aggressive methods then. I'm not just handing you the ball."

He put on his best pouting face, which almost worked. Almost.

"Why not?"

"Because that would let down my team. Also, Kim is right over there, I could just pass to her instead of you."

"You're breaking my heart over here, Scarface." I'm relatively certain the expression I was receiving the most darling puppy face I'd ever seen at all. His faces were going to melt me today.

"No. No you aren't on my team, I'm not passing to you." I turned around and he stepped in my way again, the adorable face still plastered on his features.

I shut my eyes and swatted at him. "Back off."

I tossed the ball in the direction I'd last seen Kim and judging from the cheering, she caught it and scored.

Castiel grabbed my wrist and raised it in the air triumphantly. "Everyone I give you Addison Richards, first woman to ever be immune to my adorable face. I mean we all know my face is adorable anyways but-."

"Can it." I yanked my wrist away and strode over to Kim.

"Man he just won't leave you alone." She raised an eyebrow at me and smirked.

"Yeah well, he's a pest. Pests don't really leave anyone alone."I shrugged.

"Whatever you say, Marshmallow." She winked. "I think he liiikes you."

"Can a girl and I guy not be sort of friends without people misjudging it? And wait a second. Marshmallow?"

"You're pasty. And fragile." She smirked again and ruffled my hair before walking past.

I wanted to argue that marshmallows weren't fragile and neither was I, but saying that marshmallows were squishy probably wouldn't help much. She'd moved on anyways, shooting another basket and landing it, as usual.

Me, I could hardly stand on my feet. I was exhausted after barely sleeping an hour. I blew the hair out of my face and pretended to look interested in where the ball was moving.

"Don't just give up and stand there, Scarface. I'll even go easy on you." Castiel's smile faded when he got closer. "Woah, did you not sleep at all last night? You suddenly look really pale. And tired to boot."

"Nope, I'm fine. You're naturally this pasty when you don't go out much." The gym had begun to sway a little bit, a few spots danced in my vision, I did my best to blink them away.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm absolutely sure." _Do not pass out, Addison. Don't you dare. You'd better not pass out in front of him. To hell is he going to see that._

"Really? 'Cause you look like you're going to drop, Scarface."

The concerned Castiel face had morphed into two Castiels. I tried to move around... them, but he blocked my way.

"Both of you move." I said, I felt myself swaying slightly. "I mean-."

"Both of me? Come on Scarface." He took my arm and led me to the bench where he sat me down. "Are you dizzy?"

"Nope." Um. Yes.

"Is the room spinning?"

"Nope." Sickeningly so.

"Are you just being stubborn?"

"N-nope."

"Come on." He shouted at the teacher that I wasn't feeling well and everyone turned to look at me. If I was really pasty before, I was bright red just then. He took me by the arm again and pulled me out of the gym.

"You're impossible, Scarface. You're allowed to admit to me if you aren't feeling okay. Come on now our pride war shouldn't cover that."

Well it did. I just nodded. My mouth felt far too dry to say anything. He kept looking over at me, like he was worried I'd spontaneously combust or something.

We passed classroom after classroom and I felt just about ready to puke everywhere when he pulled open the door to the nurses office. "Miss Isley." He said.

A young woman turned to us. We must have looked like quite a sight. The rebel leading a flustered looking new girl into the nurses office.

"Uh oh. Castiel she's only been in town for a few weeks!" The nurse swatted his arm.

"Wha?" I said. Good one Addison.

"How long have you been pregnant for?" The nurse asked me.

"What? But I'm-! No! Never I don't-wait but... no." I began to protest which only made the room spin faster. I glanced to Castiel for help, but there were four or five of him and I wasn't sure which one to direct my concerns to. So I kept sputtering like an idiot instead.

"Relax girl, I was just kidding." She smiled. "You don't look too good though. Experiencing light-headedness? Dizziness?"

"Yes." Castiel said at the same time I said, "It's nothing."

"Sit down." She gestured to about twenty chairs that were spinning quite a bit.

"Which one? There are so many." I mumbled.

Castiel pushed me down into one, grumbling about my idiocy and how there were two chars and sat down next to me.

"You don't have to stay Castiel, you can go back to whatever class you were in."

"Mr. Morris said I should stay with her." I opened my mouth to tell him to stop lying but the fifteen Castiels glared at me. He wanted to know what was wrong.

I didn't even know why he bothered. He had a basketball game to win.

"You're Addison, right?" The nurse asked. She smiled at me, there was something likeable about her.

I nodded.

"I was hoping to make an appointment just to go over your medical records but I guess now seems as good of a time as any." She sifted through a file on her desk and skimmed over the papers. "So what's going on?"

"I'm uh... very dizzy."

Castiel made a rumbling noise that sounded like a laugh. "To say the least." He added. "She almost passed out in gym."

"Were you working too hard or is it something else?" Like I'd ever work hard in gym class woman. Did I look like an athlete?

"I'm just really tired today. I didn't get a lot of sleep." I shifted uncomfortably. I was starting to feel a little better but the awkward situation wasn't helping at all.

"Any particular reason why?" Both Castiel and the nurse were now staring at me quite intensely and I squirmed in my chair, feeling like a rare specimen under a magnifying glass.

"No reason." I lied

"Well, I think it may be just the stress of moving around and going to a new place. I want you to take the rest of the day off. You don't have to go home, but don't go to class. I'll call your teachers." She smiled again and slipped my file back into her cabinet. Stress? Really? Had she read my school file at all?

Someone knocked on the door conjoining her office to the attendance office. "Sorry, can you two show yourselves out?"

"No problem. Thank you." I said and stood, a little too quickly.

Isley didn't notice how unstable I must have looked, but Castiel did.

He grabbed me by the shoulders and steered me out of the nurses office, closing the door shut behind us.

"Where are we going?"

"The roof." He replied.

"May I ask why?"

"You heard her, you get out of class all day." His voice rang with giddiness and mischief.

"And you think I want to spend it on a roof?"

"I like the roof." He shrugged.

"Yes but I don't like it for the rest of the day. Why would I go up there?"

"Because I'm going to stay with you."

"Very funny. I can handle it. I'll just go home and sleep or something." I lied, I would probably head home and try Auntie again, even though that was a lost cause.

"You're a horrible liar, you know that? The school nurse may have fallen for your 'no reason', but I didn't."

Shittingtons.

"Really Castiel. I'll just go home."

"No. You're off school today, and I don't go to class anyways. It's looking like we'll be spending all day together isn't it?"

I could tell from his tone of voice he was grinning.

**BALLS. Okay yes it took a very long time I've been busy and Christmas and apologia apologia.**

**Please read and review! Tell me if you have any suggestions or what you liked/didn't like. Thanks guys!**


	6. My Good Chat

**BALLS. Okay yes it took a very long time I've been busy and Christmas and apologia apologia.**

**DISCLAIMER: Hi I don't own My Candy Love. That sucks.**

**Also I realized I forgot to put a quote last chapter and that irks me. 0.0 So there shall be two today.**

_There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature._

_-Jane Austen (3)_

_And I thought if people were rain, I was a drizzle and she was a hurricaine._

_- John Green (if you haven't read anything by him GO NOW AND DO IT PLEASE FOR YOUR OWN GOOD.)_

We sat on the roof, still in our gym uniforms. I had tried to convince him about a gajabillion times to go to class like a good little soldier and he hadn't budged even a little.

"You're incredibly stubborn." I grumbled, wrapping myself in his jacket. I loved the smell of it.

"Says the girl who just decided not to tell people she was going to pass out because she didn't want people to worry."

"That's not stubbornness." I argued. "That's-."

"Stupidity?" He offered.

"Ouchie." I frowned. "Rude."

"Do you need me to make it up to you?"

"Yes! You jerk."

I looked over and he was leaning in. Very close.

Wait. Was this happening? No. Castiel was my friend. Something was wrong here. Was he joking? Should I lean in too?

NO. ADDISON WOAH THERE THAT IS NOT ACCEPTABLE WHAT ARE YOU EVEN DOING THINKING ABOUT THAT? OH GOD HE'S STILL LEANING IN WHAT IS HE DOING?

I did the bold thing and squeezed my eyes shut.

A pendant dropped around my neck. My eyes flew open as I thanked about every God/Goddess I knew of that it hadn't turned into something awkward.

"Don't just sit there and look flustered, Scarface. Do you like it?"

I looked down at the necklace. It was a silver symbol hanging on a thin black rope.

"It's pretty. What is it?"

"A Celtic symbol for something. I don't really know. Something to do with voices and curses of death and yadda yadda." He grinned.

"Swell, curses. What I've always wanted." I rolled my eyes.

"I'm just kidding with you Scarface, you've got enough bad luck on your own. I really do forget what the symbol means, but it has something to do with some woman with a pretty voiced who wowed every man she sang for."

"Wow that's cool."

"Yeah, she killed the majority of them, so don't go about doing that, okay?" He added with an innocent smile.

"I wasn't really planning on it." I laughed. "Good suggestion though."

"Bad Scarface, no killing." He chided.

There was a pause while we both took in the wonders of awkward conversation.

"Thanks for the necklace. And for rescuing me from gym class, which I'm sure you're missing so much."

"Nice try, I'm staying put with you."

I sighed, even though I liked it better this way anyways. It was nice to have his company, I trusted him like I hadn't trusted anyone in a long time, maybe even more than I trusted Auntie.

"Have you heard about the early semi-formal?" He asked, bringing me back from my thoughts.

"Ew. Semi-formal this early in the year?"

"It's in like a month. But yeah, it's going to be hell."

"Don't go then."

"If only I didn't have to." He rolled his eyes. "Lysander's making me tag along in case Rosalya and Leigh have some kind of issue again. I don't even know why they're going. Whatever, I'll probably live."

"Well, you have fun at that." I grinned. "I'll be at home playing Bioshock or something."

"Not so fast, you're coming."

"Absolutely not. I don't like large social interactions, also I don't dance."

"Don't make me force you into a dress and drag you along, Scarface."

"Well, spare yourself the burden and leave me behind." I struck a dramatic pose. "Go on without me."

He facepalmed. "Sometimes, Scarface, you can be so damn lame I don't know how to handle it."

"Which is why I shouldn't go to early-prom-semi-whatever thing."

"Nope. You're coming. You don't have any say in the matter."

"It's a free country." I whined, but he just smiled.

"Free country or not, if I have to go, you're coming with me."

"Or we could both stay home and play some mindless video game?" I tried.

"No, Lysander needs me."

I sighed. "I have no intentions of even trying to look pretty at this ridiculous excuse of a dance and I don't intend on having any fun either."

"You don't have to try, Scarface." I wasn't sure what exactly he meant by that, but he didn't meet my eyes so I didn't question it. "If it turns out badly we'll leave, I'll even treat you to some ice cream or something." He rolled his eyes.

"Do you promise?" I asked.

He sighed, blowing a few strands of bright red hair out of his face. "I promise that if pre-year-semi is a total failure we can leave. There, happy?"

"Ecstatic." I beamed.

"Are you feeling better now?" He asked, "I thought we might run and get my guitar from my locker."

"Yup, I'm fine. Sounds like a great idea."

"In the meantime, you should tell me more about yourself, Scarface."

_Uh oh._

"L-like what?"

"Anything will do."

_Oh thank God._

"My favourite colour is red." I said.

"I'm flattered." He grinned.

"Oh shut up. It's been red for a long time."

"Fine, fine. What else?"

"What else is there to know?"

"Why'd you move here of all places?" He asked. When I hesitated he just gave me the most patient look, like he'd wait forever just to know everything. So I gave up a little piece of my past.

"I didn't really have anywhere else to go, my Aunt is pretty much my only other relative." I shrugged. "Dad's on the run and my Mom's been gone for years so there wasn't much of a choice."

"What did he do?"

"Bad stuff." Maybe I wasn't ready to talk about it yet, but hey, I was making progress. Who needs a therapist when you've got a red-haired rebel who's almost as socially awkward as you are?

"Alright I'll stop asking." He smiled slightly.

"Don't worry about it, tell me something about you."

"My favourite colour is red too." He smirked. I rolled my eyes. "What's your favourite kind of weather?"

"I like rain." How _very _deep Addison. "And snow. Not a huge fan of the cold though."

"You just can't win then, can you?"

"Not ever. Worst childhood memory?"

He glared. "The day Amber developed a crush on me."

I laughed. "Oh my goodness, do tell."

He did.

Their whole childhood made me feel a little sorry for Amber, but it clearly hadn't bothered her so much judging by the brat she'd grown to become. It was like her and Nathaniel had somehow switched personalities completely. The bullied became the bully, and vice versa.

"You know what we should do?" Castiel grinned.

"I'm scared." I admitted.

"We should do couple things around Amber."

"Are you out of your clown-headed mind, demon spawn? I've already got a price on my head."

"Please, she might finally lead me alone, also she'd bug you less if she thought we were together."

"Oh dear Lord, I'm going to regret this."

He stood, "Come on Scarface, we have to get the guitar anyways."

Right, the guitar. It was a quest now, in my mind. A quest for the guitar. And somewhere in the middle we had to destroy the evil psycho-bitch boss. Twat fun that would be.

"Look, chances are she won't kill you or anything." He was teasing me, and it certainly wasn't helping. We walked down the stairs from the roof, the mission had begun.

"Yeah see that doesn't help with my general worry." I mumbled. When we hit the third floor we saw Amber stalking towards us with her pack of vicious and overly perfumed Gucci slaves right in tow.

I looked up at him, mentally preparing myself for him to call me sweetie or sugar or something nauseating that couples say to each other.

Instead he reached his hand down, grabbed my hand and swung them both back and forth like a happy-go-lucky pendulum.

I coughed. No, I choked. I started having another one of my famous coughing fits that happened when he either was in very close proximity or touched my hand by accident.

Luckily neither of those things happened frequently, otherwise I'd lose air often and kill brain cells and it would be all his fault.

"Are you okay?" He asked, his voice dripping with added sweetness because Amber had paused to glare at me.

"Totally fine." I straightened up. "Sometimes when slootes wear cheap perfume my lungs cry out in pain and agony like that." I shot a look at Amber. Castiel snickered.

"Do you hear her? Oh my God. I think she's talking about our Prada." One of Amber's followers hissed.

"Oh no." I grabbed my head. "One of them is speaking, I can feel my brain cells committing suicide."

He burst out laughing and dragged me away. I waved to Amber as we disappeared around a corner, smiling like the queen.

"Sometimes, Scarface darling, you bring the hate upon yourself."

"She hated me first." I protested, ignoring the fact he'd just called me darling and hadn't dropped dead instantly. "Also you brought me into this, I deserved to have a little fun."

He shook his head, still chuckling. "Sometimes you're brilliant."

"Only sometimes?" I made a face.

"I'll upgrade you to 'on more than one occasion'." Castiel offered with an evil smile.

"Ouch. That's not an upgrade. Not in the slightest."

Castiel was nearly thrown off his feet when Nathaniel came speed walking around a corner and crashed into him.

"God Blondie, watch where you're going, we're walking here you know." Castiel snapped.

He received only a glare and a muttered (and very forced) apology in response before Nathaniel walked away. I turned and watched him go in the direction we'd just come. I instantly pitied him because the kid was about to run into his batshit crazy sibling and I wouldn't wish that punishment on anyone except the devil himself. Actually not even him.

We continued through the halls until we found our lockers. My fingers felt oddly tingly and I ignored the most likely reason why they would be doing that after just holding Castiel's hand, even if for a few seconds. I settled instead on blaming it on my hand for having poor circulation.

Ah, the wonders of denial.

He opened his and cursed.

"Bad news, Scarface. I forgot it at home."

I mock-gasped in horror. "How dare you!"

"No problem, we can run to my house and get it. Not like it will take that long. Are you up for it?"

"What, you think I'd pass up an opportunity to meet the motorcycle cult under the bridge? Not for the world."

"Very funny." Castiel rolled his eyes, closing his locker again he gestured to the doors leading out into the cold. "Shall we?"

**MERP. MY NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION TO GET CHAPTERS UP FASTER IS FAILING MISERABLY. Speaking of miserable, anyone seen Les Mis? I saw it. TOO. MANY. TEARS. I have not cried that much ever. It was really bad. My sister and I were in the theatre and I was trying not to cry too loudly (because I cry like a dying t-rex or something else incredibly loud) and I just wound up sounding like a muffled moose. It was not pretty either. **

**Some really attractive guys from my school were even there to witness it. I'm a winner.**

**ANYWAYS, now that I've gone completely off topic, thank you so much for reading guys. Your support has been so great, your reviews are super encouraging and you deserve a far more efficient author :P **


	7. My Stormy Weather

**DISCLAIMER: HEY I REALLY WISH I OWNED CASTIEL BUT SADLY ENOUGH I DON'T. I DON'T EVEN OWN ANY OF THIS CONTRARY TO WHAT MY IMAGINATION WOULD HAVE ME BELIEVE. ADDISON IS SORT OF MINE THOUGH. SO YEAH.**

**Thanks for everything! I decided I'd get another chapter up ASAP in order to keep you guys somewhat pleased with me. **

**I'll do better, pinky promise!**

_Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempest._

_-Epicurus_

It was still frigid out. I was wearing my own jacket for a change as I'd made him stop before he left so I could grab it. I'd also gone to the gym and packed up all my proper clothes and things in case he changed his mind and let me go home.

I didn't mind this of course, but I was still pretty tired.

The weather was being bi-polar and was doing a swell job of confusing the actual everything out of me. I had forgotten it was possible for it to rain and snow at the same time. Somehow between the time we were on the roof and the time we stepped outside the clouds had started dumping rain, snow and hail on us at various intervals.

Right now, it was a snow interval, which wasn't all that bad.

"It looks like the storm's decided to show up a little early." Castiel grumbled.

"Really? I nearly lost my footing on a patch of ice as the wind blew a clump of my own hair into my face. "I couldn't tell."

"It's way too cold to be September."

"Well, global warming's a bitch." I shrugged. He muttered an agreement.

The wind seemed to slowly be getting faster and more powerful as we passed the apartment buildings. I longed to run inside, but we hadn't completed the quest and picked up the guitar yet. I couldn't give up now.

"How are you holding up, Scarface?" He had to practically shout back at me.

"I'm just dandy." I called back. We'd reached Westend, I could make out the street sign through my tangled mess of hair.

"Just a bit farther, it's the second house on the far side. Can you see it?"

"Yup. I see it."

We must have looked silly, I'm certain we were overdramatizing things. Here we were in a bit of wind and snow acting like we were climbing Mount Everest or something.

The house looked old and beautiful, sort of like a Victorian style mansion but way smaller. It was the kind of house you'd see in a ghost hunting show, one that came with an angry poltergeist that had a habit of messing up your sock drawer. At the same time, it wasn't that kind of house, it gave off a kind of warm 'welcome in, weary travellers of Sweet Amoris' glow.

Castiel and I trudged up the front steps and he pulled a key out of his jacket.

"Oh that's weird. It's already unlocked." He frowned and pushed it open.

"Hello?" A woman's voice called from inside. I could just make out the front hall, my eyes taking their time to adjust to the light change. It had a stone patterned floor, nothing you could find in a townhouse, or in my apartment for that matter.

"Hey Mom. I forgot it was your day off." Castiel called. I was a little nervous to meet his mother. What if she hated me and forbid him from ever speaking to me ever? Or what if she was one of those mothers that had always wished for a daughter and wanted to dress me up all the time and take me shopping and feed me so much Starbucks that we both became broke?

_Deep breath Addison, focus on the nice house._

The stairs were covered in coffee-coloured carpet, complimenting the mahogany banister. The walls of the front hall were a stormy-sea kind of blue.

"Can I live here instead of my apartment?" I asked in a whisper.

"We can trade, you have more video games than I do." He hissed back, smiling.

"No way, if I live here I'm bringing my games." I replied.

A black blur charged towards Castiel and I and bowled into the both of us, sending him stumbling backwards and me flying into the doorframe. The blur bounded happily over to me and started licking my face.

"Demon, get off her." Castiel smirked. "She's having a fragile day today."

I stood up and brushed myself off. "I am not." I reached down and pet the dog, he was big, seeming more like a bear than a dog, but definitely a sweetheart. "You named this guy Demon?"

"You should have seen him as a puppy, he chewed everything, made all kinds of mess." Castiel grinned.

"As if you didn't do the same." A woman walked into the hallway and smiled an all-too familiar smile at Castiel. It had to be his mother. Some of their features were identical. Same mouth, same dark eyes, same nose.

The only difference was that her face was a little rounder than her son's. She had a fuller sort of appearance, she looked more soft and approachable. Her jet black hair hung in loose curls at her shoulders. She was gorgeous.

"Hi, I'm Kathrine. I didn't think Castiel would have managed to drag a girl into his poor attendance." The last two words were directed towards her son, who gave her a mischievous grin.

"As if you were a good girl in high school, Mum. Don't pretend you were."

"Hush. You're going to embarrass me in front of your beautiful hostage." She smiled kindly at me. "You didn't mention what your name was."

"Oh, I'm Addison." I muttered shyly at the same time Castiel flung an arm around me and announced, "This is Scarface."

I elbowed him in the stomach, not too hard, but hard enough for him to double over slightly. He pinched my arm. I stepped on his foot. He rested his head on my shoulder. I made a choking noise and gave his mother the best innocent smile I could muster.

She looked us over for a few seconds and then burst out laughing. "Well anyways, to what do I owe the pleasure of the both of you stumbling in to our humble household and out the cold?"

"I need my guitar, mother dearest. Scarface here sings and we need some way to spend the rest of the day."

"I've got an idea, go to class." She sighed. "And stop calling that poor girl Scarface, I don't see any scars anywhere."

BAHAAHHAHAHA commence awkward silence from Addison.

"But she almost passed out today so the nurse gave her the whole day off. Being the gentleman that I am, I couldn't just leave her all alone."

"You could have let me-mmph." He silenced me by covering my mouth with his hand.

Kathrine just shook her head. "Fine, away with you then."

He practically skipped up the stairs, Demon racing past him. I followed, unsure of where exactly to remain. Did he want me to follow him to his room or was I supposed to wait with his mother?

It was like being caught in Addison-make-a-damn-decision-and-stop-flailing-about limbo.

Since his mother had vanished into another room I decided that I should just chase after demon and demon spawn.

I found him in a room that was a complete mess. The walls were painted black and there was a queen sized bed in the far corner with sheets that were supposed to be bright red but looked a little pink. I thought about pointing that out and curtsying to her majesty, but decided against it.

Her majesty at that moment was pulling his guitar off a wall mount.

"What are you smiling at, Scarface?"

"Nothing." I began humming God Save the Queen, he ignored me.

"Let me just grab a case for this so it doesn't turn into a damn icicle out there and we can be on our way again."

"Back out into the frostbite conditions? Oh huzzah." I muttered.

"We can wait a little if you'd like." He offered. "No big deal." Castiel sat down on his bed with the guitar behind him.

"I'd like that. Just a few minutes. I don't see any motorcycle cult members under a bridge." I smiled, taking off my backpack and letting it slide on to the floor.

He laughed lightly. "Nope, they took a day off."

I spun, my back now facing him, and noticed the posters on the wall next to the door. They looked like band posters, I took a few steps backward to admire them.

Unfortunately it was at this point Demon lay down on the floor, acting as a fuzzy tripwire. I stumbled over the dog and fell backwards on to my red headed companion.

He grabbed me by the shoulders to prevent me from doing much more damage, but it was a little late as I was already pretty much sitting on his lap. Nope, I was definitely in his lap.

We were both kind of frozen there. I stared wide-eyed up at him, mentally preparing myself for... what? I had no idea what kind of reaction this new demonstration of my brilliant ability to fail at everything would bring out.

His lower lip trembled a little, and he bit down on it. His dark eyes seemed to say everything. Castiel was trying very hard not to start howling at me.

We both burst out laughing at about the same, and once we started we couldn't really stop. My eyes were watering by the time I finally slowed down enough to breathe.

"You-you're such a hazard, Scarface." He chuckled. "You just tripped over a dog."

"He got in my way!" I protested, swiping at my eyes with my thumb.

I don't think either of us really realized the odd position we were both in until sometime later when Kathrine came in.

"How long does it take to get a guitar? I was starting to get worried about you- oh." A smile formed on her lips. "I see."

I immediately scrambled off her son and landed on the floor next to the dog, who looked at me sheepishly.

"Wewerejustonourwayout." I slurred, standing up quickly and startling everyone.

"Okay then." She grinned and moved past the door.

As soon as she was out of earshot Castiel started laughing again.

"I am so mortified. It's all your fault." I fake-scolded Demon, giving him a rub at the same time. "Now I get why they call you Demon."

"Alright Scarface." Castiel pulled a case out from under the bed and placed the guitar in it. You'd think he was holding a newborn baby the way he held that thing. "Let's roll out, the last thing we need is you tripping over something else."

"Oh shut up." I groaned.

We headed back outside, only the wind seemed to have picked up and it was now raining and hailing at once. I could barely see a thing.

I think we made it about two block before we paused to make a decision.

"Scarface, no way in hell are we making it back to the school."

"I agree with this statement." I had to shout in order to him to hear me, the wind lashing against my face.

"We can't go back, it's getting worse. We'll have to duck into your apartment."

I nodded but I wasn't all that sure he saw. Instead I grabbed for the hem of his jacket and tugged him towards my building. We had to fight against the wind to get the door open and Castiel had to hold it open while I staggered inside because he shouted something about my 'noodle arms'.

We near collapsed on the stairs.

"God." He breathed. "You couldn't have gotten an apartment on the first floor?"

"Not much of a view." I shrugged. "Come on."

I continued to pull him by the jacket up the many flights of steps until we were outside my door.

When I unlocked it and pushed it open he stumbled in and did a face-plant on to my couch. "What is this, a hurricane?"

I looked out the window at the sheets of rain and hail pelting at the ground with what seemed like enough force to crack it open. "It does seem that way." The wind screamed outside and I shuddered, glad to be warming up.

"Colder than freaking Antarctica out there." He grumbled and wrapped himself in blankets.

"Do you want some hot chocolate?" I asked.

"Yes." His eyes lit up instantly, he looked a little bit like a child. I felt bad for dragging him around with me all day. He could be at the school right now.

I sauntered into the kitchen and turned on the radio.

"Category one. First time the little town of Sweet Amoris has been hit in twenty-five years." The weather man announced.

"Did you hear that?" I asked Castiel.

"So it is a hurricane?"

"Sounds like it."

"They should call it hurricane Amber." He snickered.

I giggled. "I hope they do, but I think we're on R names or something."

"Dammit."

I began preparing the hot chocolate, I also put a few pizza buns in the oven because what's a hurricane without some comfort food?

There was a knock on the door, I wondered if it was Auntie but divorced that thought quicker than any of the Kardashians would have. Auntie was in... Japan or something, no way would she make it back here to see me in a fucking hurricane.

"Can you get that?" I asked Castiel.

"Sure thing." I heard the springs of the couch shift, then the door swung open.

"Hello, is Addison home?" A familiar voice asked.

"Quintan!" I called, abandoning the food I was preparing and running into the boy's arms.

He hugged me awkwardly, as he was holding something in his hands.

"What about me?" Another voice asked. Quintan moved out of the way as I embraced Josh as well. The two men looked Castiel up and down. Castiel in turn eyed them, he looked a little peeved.

"Castiel remember when I told you that I got stuck in the elevator and a nice guy helped me out?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"Well, that was Quintan."

Castiel must have also failed to forget that the boy who had rescued me from the elevator was gay, because he made the connection between Quintan and Josh pretty quickly, and he looked a little happier too.

He shook both their hands and introduced himself as "some guy who got stuck with this girl" and jabbed a thumb at me.

"'This girl' happens to be making you hot chocolate and pizza buns. So I'd can it."

He grinning sheepishly at me and I rolled my eyes.

Quintan and Josh shared funny look.

"Anyways we just came to drop of some provisions." Josh said, his brown eyes shining. "Also just to let you know, our power is probably going to go off in an hour or so."

"We're surprised it's held up this long." Quintan added.

"Yay." I groaned.

"Yup, so if you want to do something that involves electricity, do it now." Josh sighed.

"Thanks." Castiel said, he took the tin of food from Quintan and left to put it in the kitchen.

Quintan and Josh gave me a knowing smile.

"What?" I asked innocently.

"Oh you know exactly what!" Josh grinned. "We want details later."

"It's not like that. Thank you for the food." I was blushing scarlet as they marched triumphantly down the hallway and back to their room."

I closed the door and turned to find Castiel standing in the kitchen texting someone.

"Who's the lucky recipient?" I asked.

"My mother." He laughed. "She's insisting I stay where I am as long as it's inside."

"Well I insist too, you aren't going back out there, not to school, not home." I sounded much more firm about it than I felt.

"She's also making me promise not to do anything stupid." He winked and I'm pretty sure any other girl would have melted.

Me? Oh I just started coughing again.

"You're too much fun, Scarface." He snickered. "What do we need to do before the power goes out?"

I assigned him the title of 'designated important supplies finder'. We'd need candles and matches and flashlights and all kinds of that crap. I didn't even know if I had any.

I was on food duty, making sure we would have enough to eat and drink for at least forty-eight hours. Was that even right? Did we need more? Oh well, we'd make do.

For the first time since the storm began I started feeling nervous. Was it because I had a teenaged rebel-boy in my apartment which was inhabited by me and solely me and no parental unit or guardian whatsoever? Nope, it was because I had no idea how long this storm would last, if we'd have enough supplies to actually survive through it or how much longer my brain could tolerate hearing him humming an off-key version of Single Ladies.

"You look a little stressed out, Scarface, you feeling okay?" He pressed a hand to my forehead, his dark eyes flickering with concern.

"Just a little worried is all."

Also for some reason I kept on picturing Quintan and Josh having hooked up a secret video camera somewhere watching us like reality T.V. while they still had power and screaming "DO SOMETHING" at the screen. I really was beginning to lose it.

"Well, quit your worrying, you're making me nervous." He tried.

"Sorry." That must not have been the right response because he frowned.

"What? Scarface, Queen of I-always-have-a-comeback, is apologizing for no good reason?"

The wind battering against the windows became the white noise of my thought process. I had to come back down to earth.

"Hey, sometimes I don't have a comeback." I shrugged. "And thanks for being nice to Quintan and Josh, I was expecting you to be your usual, snarky self."

"They seemed alright." He ran a hand through his still-damp hair. "Also they're friends of yours, so they're friends of mine, I guess."

My stomach did an unexpected flip at the idea that he cared that much.

_Bad Addison, we don't think that way._

"Also, despite popular belief I'm not rude to everyone."

I raised my eyebrows at him. I would have used one but I'm incapable of doing that.

"Alright well I'm rude to most people. But take your friend Iris, I haven't been mean to her in years." I punched him in the shoulder lightly, then it hit me.

"Iris! Oh I hope she's okay. Do you think they'll keep everyone at the school?"

"Probably, they've got emergency stuff there they can use. I bet you Blondie's giving them all a speech right now about how he's got everything under control." Castiel grumbled.

"Yeah, well let's just be glad we're here instead of trapped in a school overnight with Amber." I shuddered at the thought.

There was a pause which was inhabited mainly by the crackle of the radio and the storm outside. We both stared out the window at the thick cloud of wind and rain

"Oh yeah, I got all those supplies you wanted. Your Aunt had this whole closet full of that crap, as well as crutches and stuff, she really does know you well."

"Shut up." I glowered, wondering just how true that statement really was.

"Make me."

At that moment the alarm for the pizza buns went off.

"I guess I just have." I grinned.

After devouring the cheesy goodness that were my favourite brand of pizza buns we made a few plans.

"I think we should try and sleep when the lights go out, that was we don't use up any of our supplies if we don't have to." I suggested.

"Sure, sounds like a plan." He eyed the thermostat wearily and I knew why.

The temperature in the whole building was going down. We could both feel it dropping slowly.

"I've piled extra blankets on both our beds." He added. "And I plugged in those awesome electric blanket things so that they'll be warm when we go to bed. I won't really need it as much, when I'm under three blankets I'll be fine."

"That's actually somewhat intelligent of you, Cas, gold star."

"Cas?"

"I thought I'd give it a try." I smiled. "No?"

"Absolutely not." He rolled his eyes. "Also that Josh looked about my size so I'm going to go see if he has any clothes I could borrow."

He stood and left, leaving me alone in the apartment. It suddenly seemed so hollow.

I decided to get changed into something warmer while he was gone, settling on my track shorts and a big bulky sweater with Camp Voice written across the front. I'd never actually been to the place, but I'd wanted to go for as long as I could remember.

Auntie had bought me the sweater with the promise of letting me go in the summer. It was really fuzzy on the inside and I adored it to no end. It was also about three sizes too big for me and ended at my mid-thighs. They covered my shorts completely.

I decided I'd put on some fleece pyjama bottoms if it got too cold, but for the moment I was fine walking around in that.

Castiel walked in and his gaze dropped to my legs for a moment.

"I got some clothes. Other people in the building are panicking though. Someone's going completely apeshit and trying to steal from someone else."

"Lock the door then, we won't open to anyone except Quintan and Josh."

He nodded and clicked the bold on the door. He set his clothes down on the counter. "I have the feeling we're in for a rough night, Scarface."

Someone yelled down the hall, there was a crash and all the lights flickered out. The power was gone.

He had no idea just how right he was.

**Alright guys, I rewarded you all for being super awesome with another chapter!**

**Thanks for your sweet reviews and encouragement. Let me know what you think! I love you all. *MUAH***


	8. My Bad Dreams

**Disclaimer: As much as it pains me to admit it, I don't own My Candy Love or the characters or any of that jazz. Well, as I keep pointing out, Addison is mine. **

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**So anyways, without much further ado, here's more awkwardness and fluff and stuff.**

_Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light._

_-Helen Keller_

_Weather forecast for tonight: dark. _

_-George Carlin _

I felt around the kitchen, my fingers gripping the counter tightly.

"Where are you?" He breathed, he sounded pretty close still and that was reassuring.

"Right here." I whispered, then stopped moving. "Why are we whispering?"

He snorted. "I have no idea." I smiled.

"Help me find the matches." My hands were scrabbling around on the smooth surface, I could feel water bottles and plates I'd left out and a bowl of fruit, where were the goddamn matches? Where were the rest of our supplies?

I couldn't see a thing, and it was weirding me out. I still could hear Castiel's breathing, I could hear his hands also searching the counter, but I couldn't see him. It was black as hell in there.

All at once my hand brushed something warm and in a panic I grabbed for it.

"That's my hand, Scarface."

Oh thank all the Gods above he couldn't see me turning bright red in the dark.

"Sorry!" I hissed, dropping his hand. We were back to whispering.

Down the hall we could still hear people shouting, but it was beginning to die down. It was kind of like everyone had suddenly started whispering. It was odd.

As soon as they were quiet, I wanted them to start shouting again because now it was dark and nearly silent.

I heard the sharp and beautiful sound of a match striking. Castiel's face became illuminated. He was wearing his trademark smirk, which was immensely comforting and very annoying at the same time.

"I suppose you're perfectly calm, aren't you?" I asked.

"Yup." The match moved down from his face and lit a candle, giving the counter a slight glow. With that light we were able to find the flashlights.

"Let's each take one, as well as some bottled water. I'm assuming you want me to sleep on the couch?" He shone the flashlight in his face like a kid telling a ghost story at a campfire and made what was supposed to be a scary face at me. I just pinched his arm.

"No, take the spare room." I offered. "There's a bed in there."

He nodded and blew out the candle. "Off to bed with us then, Scarface."

I flicked on my flashlight and picked my way carefully into my room and across the floor. I unplugged the electric blanket just in case the power came back on and climbed under the sheets. It was like being covered by a pile of kittens, it was so warm and snuggly.

So it was with no hesitation that I surrendered to sleep.

I think at first I was dreaming about happier things, but I knew they were starting to get creepy when Castiel appeared in one as a hula dancer.

They started getting a little violent, turning into memories, not making much sense. A twisted version of actual events. And then suddenly as clear as day, I was back in a memory again.

_He swings it down on me. Pain shoots through my skull. He's saying something, something incoherent but insulting all the same, judging by the tone._

_One of these days I really will fight back._

_I don't even know what exactly I'm being hit with this time, it's blunt and heavy and looks like it's covered in blood once he raises it a second time. _

_Oh. _

_The blow is directed at my ribs this time. I feel something snap and I cry out. _

_He just keeps hitting. All I keep hearing is that sound. Crack. _

_Crack._

Crack.

The noise had me shooting up so fast I felt dizzy. My whole body trembled and my stitches burned something awful.

Thunder, it was just a really loud clap of thunder.

I took a deep breath. I'd be totally fine.

The sky rumbled again and my insides clenched. Tears formed in my eyes. It was as if I could feel his presence in the room, like he was haunting me.

I could practically smell the alcohol mixed in drunkenly with the smoke. He really was here, he had to be. But at the same time, he couldn't be. He didn't know where I lived, there was a storm, the door was locked.

The wind howled against my window but it sounded more like a whisper.

"I'm home." It seemed to have said.

Another crack sounded and I leaped up and ran from the room, bumping into things in the dark that all felt to me like a person. What shadows I could make out looked like the tall, angry figure of a man.

To say I was scared would be underestimating the absolute freak-out my mind was putting me through. I was petrified in every single personification of the word.

I found the counter again, found the phone, picked it up. No dial tone. The phones were out too. I swore loudly and slammed it back down on to the receiver. Who was I going to call anyways? 9-1-1? Auntie? Neither of them could get here in the storm. Even if they tried, they wouldn't get here fast enough if he was really here.

Another sound of thunder, a flash of light and I ran to the only other suitable means of comfort I could.

I stopped in the doorway for a few seconds and listened to the sheets rustle. He moaned slightly and seemed to register an Addison-like shape in his room.

"Scarface? What is it? God you're loud. Where's your flashlight? Did you have to-?"

Before he could even finish I had pounced on to the bed and landed, probably quite painfully, on his shins.

I hadn't even realized I was sobbing, but I started to take notice of the choking and wailing noises I was making. I sounded like a dying moose.

"Ouch, goddammit Scarface, what's going on?"

I opened my mouth to speak and couldn't at all. I still felt like he was there, that evil presence still felt stuck to the place, but I knew he wasn't really. If we was I'd already be dead. Or close to it.

Another loud noise from outside had me burying my face in the sheets.

"Hey." He said in an unCastiel-like soothing voice. "Calm down, it's okay. You aren't afraid of a little thunder and lightning, are you?"

"N-no." I stammered.

Crack.

I scrambled off the bed and headed for the next immediate dark quiet place I could find in the pitch black room. The closet.

When I yanked it open and stumbled in, Castiel could be heard shouting at me to come back, trying to find me in the darkness.

No way. I closet the closet door, curled up into a tiny ball, and set about separating my mind from the planet. I just needed my body to shiver and cry for an hour while my brain went on a trip elsewhere. Problem solved.

Somewhere in the distance, so very far away, a red head grumbled and a flashlight clicked on.

Deep in the recess of Addison's mind however, I was too busy skipping about in a field of flowers to even begin to care. The red head continued to search the room for the crazy girl who was still sniffling like a child. But in my mind I was twirling about like Maria from the Sound of Music.

Demon spawn opened the closet door and shone the beam of his flashlight at the crazy girl. My subconscious was no longer able to ignore any of this because I realized that Castiel was shirtless.

So I watched as the red head asked what was wrong. The girl just spluttered nonsense about a man being in the apartment. Castiel offered to check for one. The girl screamed and caught him by the arm and told him not to leave her and not to go looking.

The red head looked so concerned for her. It almost broke my heart.

Slowly I seemed to come back down from earth and back into my own body, because making him worry made me feel bad.

"Come on, Scarface." Castiel was muttering. "Just please come back to bed."

I shuddered involuntarily at those words. But still remained in a tight ball.

"Please, please come to bed." He pleaded. I gave him no response. I was pretty sure I knew him well enough to know that there would be a long 'ARE YOU STUPID' conversation as soon as I could speak without gagging again.

"You leave me no choice." He sighed.

Castiel scooped me up and cradled me against his bare chest.

I wasn't sure how to react to this. I wanted to scream and hug him and punch him and bury my face against his skin all at the same time. It was far too confusing and not helping my state of mind at all.

Instead I stayed completely still, like a porcelain doll. He placed me gently on the bed and set about swaddling me like Christ in blankets.

More thunder and I tried to run again, but he held me down.

"You really want to go screaming around in the dark again?" He asked, sounding slightly amused. "You do realize last time you made enough noise to wake the dead by running into things? You're a hazard to yourself right now."

A normal, Addison remark crept to my lips but I bit it back. I wanted to say that his abs were probably the most hazardous thing to me right now as I could almost make them out in the dark and would probably start melting, but I didn't.

He climbed in next to me, leaving a whole awkward space between us.

"So." He said after a minute. "You're afraid of thunder?"

"Not usually. I just had a bad dream. I'll be fine." I was speaking quickly and quietly, I was surprised he heard me at all.

"Right. I'm definitely getting the 'I'll be fine' vibe from you right now." He said sarcastically.

I sniffed. "It was just a dream. I-I thought someone was here."

"Then why were you so afraid of that thunder?"

"The noise was in my dream too. The noise and D- that man."

"I'm going to pretend I get it." He sighed, "Do you want to talk about it at all?"

The inner battle in my head struck up again. To tell or not to tell? If I couldn't talk to Auntie, who could I talk to? Plus, I trusted him, a lot more than I cared to admit.

"Could I say a few things?"

"No, Scarface, I asked you if you wanted to talk because I don't want you too." Awkward silence. "Go ahead." He reached across the bed and put a hand on my shoulder. I wasn't sure if he was trying to encourage me or if it was his way of telling me to get over it.

"In my dream, pretty much every dream I've had since I moved here, a man always hits me." His grip on my shoulder tightened.

"You mean the dream starts and he's just punching you?"

"We he doesn't always use his fists."

Castiel's breath hitched. He started rubbing my arm, as if to keep me warm and safe from whatever else the man would strike me with.

It was damn cold in that room, the blankets didn't even feel like quite enough, I didn't mind when he scooted a little closer to me. I rolled to face him just so I could talk quietly and he'd still hear me. I was barely whispering at that point.

"So. Um. Every time he hit me, it just made that noise, you know? Like I was breaking?" I was on the verge of tears again. A part of me was telling myself to cut it out but I just couldn't for the life of me.

"It's okay, he can't hurt you. It was just a dream." He swiped a tear off my face with his thumb, one just above a no-longer-concealed bruise and froze. "Oh my God."

I met his eyes, they were filled with understanding.

"It actually happened, didn't it?"

My mouth gaped open, I longed to tell him no, it hadn't happened. It never had, it was just a dream. I wanted to lie. I couldn't, not to him.

"Didn't it?"

What I managed in response was another sob, and then I lost it again.

_I hate crying. I hate it so damn fucking much. Now he knows. He could figure out everything, link it to my runaway Dad. It's only a matter of minutes before he does._

He slipped his hand into mine. "You're cold."

He pulled me towards him and I found myself wrapped in what was possibly the most comforting embrace I'd ever felt. And he was warm too.

"I won't let that happen to you Scarface. Oh shit. I've been calling you Scarface this whole time."

I laughed a little. "It's fine."

You know those moments when you realize that you're doing something stupid but you continue to do it anyways? Yeah, that's what Castiel and I were feeling. Because I was slowly coming to the realization that he was sleeping in boxer shorts and he was probably coming to the realization that he was holding me like an adorable couple off of some television show.

Oh God the awkwardness. It was so familiar and us, it was just what I needed.

"Was it your Dad?" Called it.

"Yeah." I breathed.

I waited for him to say something like "I'll kill the bastard" or "He should die", but he didn't say either of those.

"He won't do that ever again." Castiel kissed my forehead. "We should get some sleep, I won't let him hurt you."

My insides twisted into a giddy knot. I thought briefly, but only briefly, that if Amber every heard about this she'd definitely kill me.

I also thought that if anyone else ever found out that he had been super nice and sweet and kissed my forehead, Castiel would probably kill me himself.

I smiled and for the first time in a long time fell into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

When I woke up I spent about ten seconds freaking out over the fact that there was a sleeping, shirtless and very attractive boy in my bed. Or my spare bed anyways. The next fifty seconds were spent admiring how peaceful he looked in his sleep. The next two minutes were spent staring at his abs. The next minute was spent chiding myself.

I detangled myself from his limbs and slipped off the bed. I regretted it immediately, it was freezing in the apartment, the storm still raging outside. We weren't going anywhere, that was for sure. Also, seeing as the bed was the warmest location, I didn't intend on leaving it for very long.

Running around the apartment, I gathered all our supplies, including the blankets off my bed, and brought them into the spare room. I lit about ten candles, put some frozen lasagna in a pan and started heating it super slowly above them.

It was the oddest thing I've ever attempted, but it was working. I wondered if maybe I should have saved the candles, but one look at our supply and I noted we had two bags of those tea light candles and at least five tall beeswax ones.

Plus, Castiel had been so patient and understanding last night.

He'd actually seemed to genuinely care for me.

_Maybe he does. Oh shut up. False hope._

In any case, I was really excited when I went into the spare room with one plate for him and one for me.

"Castiel." I said. "I have a surprise for you." He stirred slightly and groaned.

I poked him in the back, his eyes flicked open. He registered my face, my legs (Again? Really?) and then the plate in my hands.

He sniffed the air. "Is that-?"

"Lasagna, nice and warm." I grinned.

"Marry me, Scar-Addison."

"No. And you can keep calling me Scarface, I really don't mind." I waved the lasagna in his face and he took it hungrily. However I kept the fork and when he reached for it, pulled it away.

"Before you do that you need to do me a massive favour and put on a shirt and probably some pants."

"Are you feeling intimidated by my chest, Scarface?" He asked, stretching and essentially blinding me.

"A little." I admitted.

"I'll tell you what, we'll both change into something a little warmer, because your legs are becoming really hard not to ignore."

"Okay." Blush. Blushing. More blushing. I begged the storm to end, so that I could have a break from my thoughts. Already more than once this morning the idea had popped into my head to pounce on him.

Uuuuugh whyyyy was this happening to me?

"I'll change in the bathroom!" I called. "You can get your things then."

When I stepped out of the spare room, I noticed I'd left the candles burning and blew them all out. I remembered that it was battery powered and flicked on the radio, begging for some good news and wishing I'd remembered that earlier.

"The storm should clear up in a day or two. In the meantime, stay safe everyone! And by any means at all, stay warm!" I turned it off in order to conserve it and had another nervous feeling.

The expected me to have trouble staying warm? No problem, I was stuck in an apartment with Castiel, my first best friend in a long time, he was very attractive and slept in boxers. I was going to melt, not freeze.

In my fog I went into my room to get my clothes but failed to go into the bathroom like I'd said I would about two minutes ago.

I had my back to the door, clad in my underthings, fiddling with the clasp of my bra when Castiel came in the room.

"Fuck." I yelled and began searching for anything to cover myself up with. A napkin would have done, but I'd moved everything useful into the other bedroom. I reached for the sweater that was crumpled on the bed but he beat me to it and threw it at me.

He burst out laughing as I held against it against my chest and tried to think of something snarky to say.

He was doubling over, clutching his (still bare, goddamn) chest and laughing like he was mad. It was a little bit infectious.

"Just look at us, Scarface." He howled. "We're the worst at this."

Tears of laughter pooled in my eyes and I wiped them away with the sweater. "Oh my God. I can't believe that just happened."

While he was incapacitated on the floor giggling like a child, I jumped into my jeans and planned on moving to the bathroom to fix my bra problems.

"Do you require some assistance?" He snickered from the floor.

"Not at all." I turned my head and poked my tongue out at him. "Good job knocking by the way."

"You said you'd be in the bathroom." He snapped, but smiled all the same.

I fiddled with the clasp some more and slowly edged towards the bathroom. He sighed loudly, stood up and walked over to me. His fingers brushed the skin on my back as he did up my bra and my breathing faltered for a second, which he noticed.

"You're trying not to have one of your famous coughing fits, aren't you?" He sneered, breath tickling my neck.

"No." I coughed.

He laughed and grabbing his bag, left my room, closing the door behind him. He was still laughing as I put on my shirt, and a blue sweater.

"Oh shut up." I yelled.

For the rest of the day we both had some proper clothes on. We passed the time by jamming out on the guitar and playing mindless board games.

The temperature continued to drop, and we were both back in our jackets. Well, I had tried to put on my jacket, but for some reason mine was still soaking wet and his was perfectly dry. He let me use his.

We were amid a dull round of cards when the conversation turned serious again. "Do you think he'll come back?" Castiel asked.

"Who?"

"Your Dad, do you think he's looking for you?"

"I know he is. I feel like the distance between us gets smaller every day." I admitted. "It's only a matter of time."

"That's pessimistic, even for you. Maybe he has no idea where you are."

I shrugged but I didn't think it was true. I knew it wasn't true. Despite the fact we were nearly freezing to death the water was still boiling.

Only a matter of time.

"I should go check on Quitan and Josh. Or maybe have a nap." I muttered, nervously tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

"No wait, not yet. I'll stop bothering you. Sit your ass down." I sat and sighed as he put the cards down and picked up the guitar. "If you hold the guitar and sit in front of me I'll teach you how to play it non-spastically.

We were in the panic room, it seemed only appropriate, and being bored.

I scooted against his shins, he reached around me and set the guitar in my lap.

"Do you know any chords at all?"

"I know the chords for Wonderwall."

"Alright, strum away." He said.

"I already told you I can't." I blew a strand of hair out of my face.

"Try." He insisted.

I flailed mercilessly at the strings. He reached around and caught my arm.

"Scarface, darling." He sounded worried about his guitar. "Go easy on my child."

"Your guitar is your child?" I giggled, he pinched my side right above my stitches and I gasped.

"I didn't pinch you that hard."

"I just wasn't expecting it. Jerk."

He smirked and shot a glance out the window. "Maybe if we're lucky the storm will make them cancel that pre-semi."

Oh fuck, I'd forgotten about that.

"If only this storm could last for a month." I sighed.

"You'd tolerate a month locked in this place with me?" He asked sweetly.

"No, I'd kick you out."

"That's real considerate of you, Scarface." He groaned. "That dance thing might not be so bad."

"Yeah, except I can't dance."

"You don't have to dance, unless some poor kid asks you to during a slow dance." He looked amused at the very thought. "Maybe Nathaniel will."

"Oh God no. If anyone asks I'll refuse instantly."

"Come on, Scarface. You can't just deny every guy. Also what if Amber's after me and I need a way out?"

Of course, that was his main concern.

"Grab the first girl you see."

"And if that happens to be you?"

"I'll murder you in front of everyone." I countered.

"That's not really the right way to promote yourself as the new girl, Scarface."

I glared back at him.

"Fine, if Amber's chasing you, you can find me."

He squeezed my arm. "Thanks." Castiel stood and offered me his hand. "I'll teach you how to dance non-awkwardly."

"I'm me, everything I do is awkward." I skulked.

He plucked his guitar from my hands, set it aside and pulled me begrudgingly to my feet. "That's true. But I don't want you spazzing around and making me look bad."

"Then why are you forcing me to go?" I snapped.

He rested his head on my shoulder in exasperation. "It would be no fun without you, Scarface."

Well, that pretty much sold me. I was becoming nauseatingly aware that if he did something cute I'd agree to just anything he asked. Dear God, who was I turning into?

"Now sing us a nice slow song." He said.

"Ugh, like what?"

"Something by Coldplay will do."

"You like Coldplay?"

"If I say yes am I forgiven?"

"Yes."

"I like them."

I laughed and launched into the song.

"Alright." He took my hands and placed them on his shoulders before encircling my waist with his own. I continued singing, but kept up a steady staring contest with the floor. I wasn't winning.

He hummed along with me, gently pulling me against him. Slowly we spun.

"You aren't doing that badly at spinning in a circle, I'm so proud of you." He said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

I stopped singing. "Shut up."

He snickered.

We spun some more, I felt nice and toasty warm in his jacket, but I noticed he was starting to feel cold. He shivered lightly and looked down at his jacket.

He shifted. "Uh oh."

"What now?" I groaned, figuring it was another forced invitation to my own personal and sociable hell.

"I'm starting to get a little bit cold." I looked up and saw a tad of annoyance in his eyes. He really was cold, he looked freezing actually. "Even men get cold sometimes."

Of course he would cover up his weaker moment with a big-headed comment and an arrogant smirk.

"Awe, poor baby. Come here, you can have your jacket back. I'll go nap." I tossed him his coat which was many sizes too big for me, and turned to head for the room.

"Not so fast." I felt him wrap the jacket around me too and then zip it up. He had his arms through the sleeves but for me it was like wearing a straightjacket. I was pressed up against his chest like a parachutist.

"Um. This is not okay, I did not agree to this." I growled and struggled to get out. The most I could do was squirm around to face him, trying to irritate the crap out of him so he'd let me go. It wasn't working. I looked him straight in the eye and tried out a commanding, no-nonsense tone.

"Let me go you demon spawn."

"Never, Scarface." He teased with a smile and pretty much blinded me with gorgeousness.

"Castiel there is no room in this jacket for two people. I should really just be sleeping."

Something crucial happened. A lethal combination of my lack of coordination and his attempts to maneuver us away from the direction I wanted to go. Somehow our legs tangled together and I tripped, taking him with me.

I landed on his chest, bumping my chin against his collarbone. My fingers were knotted in panic into his t-shirt, my knuckles white. He was lying on his back, propped up by his elbows. He was looking at my eyes but his gaze kept dropping to my mouth, and then back up.

He leaned in slowly, and his lips captured mine.

**I am actually ending the chapter there. YOU ARE ALL GOING TO HATE ME I'M SO SORRY.**

**It was a really long chapter though, in my defense. **

**Thanks for your beautiful reviews, I read through them and want to sob at how fangirly we all are. Bless all of you and I'll have the next bit up like lightning I pinky promise.**


	9. My More-Than-Friends

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own My Candy Love or any of the characters yadda yadda etc hurray that's over.**

**OMIGOODNESS. You're all THE GREATEST PEOPLE. EVER. I just want to hug you all. I totes will.**

***GROUP CYBER HUG OF LOVE AND FANGIRLEDNESS***

**I got this one up as quick as I could because of the cliffy and I didn't want you guys to murder me.**

_Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars._

_-Khalil Gibran_

My heart accelerated and pounded furiously against my ribs, my stomach so numb with butterflies I wasn't even sure it existed anymore.

And at that point, I didn't really care.

Slowly I started to respond, finally unfrozen from my initial shock.

I kissed him back and felt him smile against my lips. It wasn't his usual smirk, it felt happy.

He pulled away, looking a little bit mischievous.

"W-what are we doing?" I muttered, as he reached around me and unzipped the jacket.

"I don't really know. I for one am testing multiple theories, but beyond that," He kissed me again, quickly, before adding, "I don't really care, do you?"

If I had cared or had wanted to tell him to cut it out right then and there, I wouldn't have had the opportunity, because he was kissing me again. Unfair.

But I really didn't care nor did I want to tell him to cut it out, so I forgave him pretty fast.

I parted my lips a little, allowing him to deepen it.

His hands started tracing up my side and I ignored the alarms suddenly blaring in my skull. He was doing an excellent job of distracting me and he knew it. That was, until his fingers touched a point towards the middle of the massive scar running up my body.

He broke away, his eyes flickering to where he'd pushed up my sweater a little. Castiel was staring right at the ugly ribbon scar staining my skin. The stitches looked awfully reddish purple today, must have been because of the cold or something. That definitely wasn't my biggest fear.

"Addison." His voice trembled a little. "What the fuck is that?"

"A scar?" I tried.

"Was that him too?"

"Yeah." I muttered. He cringed, eyes filling to the brim with hate.

There was so much angst in the both of us and I had no idea what to do with it. At this rate if he didn't calm down he'd probably break something.

If he could distract me, I could distract him. I really wanted to avoid this conversation.

The urgency with which I kissed him sent him flying completely over the edge. He held me tighter against him, like he was pulling me away from the room where he'd seen the thing that had once been a massive hole in my body but now looked like a grade one student's sewing project.

I wasn't entirely sure if I should be letting him have control over whatever the hell was going on or if I should try and do something. He seemed like he needed to vent. I just let him, but not without putting up a bit of a fight.

When our tongues came into things, I became incredibly out of my experience. His was battling for dominance so I let him have it.

He slid the waistband of my jeans down and with a minor struggle, I removed them completely. His hands slid up the now exposed skin of my thighs. I let mine tangle in his hair.

With little effort he rolled us over so that he was now atop me and I was pinned beneath him. Meeting my lips again, he shrugged off the jacket that had caused this whole damn mess in the first place and tugged off his shirt.

His lips moved down to my neck and I moaned softly. This qualified as possibly the most fantastic as well as second worst experience of my life. Fantastic because God it felt good and second worse because GOD was he ever going to regret it later.

I knew _I_ wouldn't at least.

That was my mistake, I had started letting him distract me again. His hand was halfway up my shirt before I even realized he was touching the scar.

"What are you doing?" I gasped and reached to yank my shirt back down, he caught my hands and pinned them together in his grasp. I'm not sure which was more pathetic, the fact that he could hold both of my wrists in one of his hands or that it had been that easy for him to catch me.

"You weren't letting me take a look at it." He replied, as if talking about something as innocent as a sink.

"Yeah, maybe because you looked like you were going to murder someone as soon as you saw it."

"And I've calmed down now-."

"You're welcome."

"And I'd like to take a look at it."

I wanted to punch him in the esophagus.

Watching fearfully as his eyes scanned my wound, I wondered if his plan all along had been to take a look at the scar, after all he could have seen it when I wasn't wearing all that much and he was just standing there.

His fingers brushed a sensitive spot and I squirmed.

"Do not do that, Scarface it was hard enough to stop kissing you to do this." He said, there was a slight huskiness to it.

"Don't do what?" I asked sweetly. "This?" I moved beneath him.

His jaw tightened. "Yeah that. Don't do that."

"Then let me go and stop having a staring contest with the ugliest memory on my body."

He frowned at it, then his fingers traced another much smaller scar, one from years ago. I shivered, his fingers were hot against my skin. "How long did this happen for."

"It started about six years ago."

He winced.

"And you didn't tell anyone?"

"I was afraid he'd kill me if I did. Also, even though he was this drunken, twisted version of my Dad, he was still there. I-I thought maybe I could help him."

"Clearly that turned out."

"Shut up." I snapped. "I wasn't prepared at any point to just give up."

"He could have killed you!" He shouted. I flashed back to first day Castiel, they were both this angry but this one was far more protective.

"And then you would have been spared this whole goddamn ordeal, you could be anywhere else but here with anyone else but me." I sneered. "You wouldn't even have to be lecturing me about things I already know, imagine that!"

I mustered up some strength, yanked my hands out of his and pushed him, hard. I didn't really do that much damage but he got the idea and moved off of me.

I stood up and marched into the spare, grabbing my blankets and stormed back into my bedroom. I flopped on the bed and started thinking pissed off girl thoughts. He didn't understand, I'd told him too much and he couldn't respect my privacy or the decisions I'd made in the past.

The past. It wasn't like I could change it. What was done was going to be done forever and there was no erasing any of it.

"My Dad left." Castiel said from the doorway. I jumped up, not even having realized that he'd been there. "When I was little. He walked out on Mom and I one night, just like that. For no fucking reason at all."

I opened my mouth to say something rude but snapped it shut. It made sense that he'd been so bitter about my father when his own had left him. He thought it was easy to walk away from someone that evil when they could have done the same.

Still. That didn't give him any excuse to be cross with me for not giving up on someone I had loved.

"I'm sorry." I mumbled.

"Me too." He agreed. "Could I please just take another look at your scar?"

"Sure." I sighed. "Why don't you take a damn picture instead?"

"Oh shut up grumpy. How do you know I don't just like being under your shirt?" Aaaand we were back.

"You are so gross, I changed my mind, get away from me."

"Challenge accepted." He dove on to the bed and grabbed me around the middle. I squealed like a child.

"Get away, demon spawn." I insisted. The rebel was bold enough to tickle me at that point. Eventually after flailing about the bed trying to escape him and each time being dragged mercilessly back for more tickling, I gave in and he lifted my top again.

"God." He breathed. "Did you sew that up yourself?"

"I thought I did a good job, not having any experience and all." My attempts to lighten the mood to what it had been mere seconds ago was failing miserably and we were both painfully away of it.

"Jesus." He squinted at it. He was at an awkward angle because I was lying on the side of my body without the scar and he was lying pressed up against my body. "It looks infected or something."

"It's just gross. It can't be infected after healing for this long." I told him. To be completely honest I wasn't sure if it could still get infected or not, but it had bled just a few days ago, so it probably could. Oh well, he didn't need to know that part.

"It's like he was marking you as his territory."

"I was." I sighed. "I was his territory."

He put an arm around my waist. "Well now you're mine."

"How do you usually mark those kinds of things?"

"I don't know." He admitted. "I've never really had someone that I cared enough about before. With other girls I've just had brief little personal hells that usually ended with the girl telling me I was an asshole."

"I wonder why that could be." I rolled my eyes. He poked me.

"Anyways. With you it's different."

"How so?"

"I'm not really sure whether it's a good thing or not, but when guys look at you I want to strangle them all."

_Guys look at me? When did this start?_

"So I guess I just want them all to know that you aren't up for grabs. Something visible."

"Just because I'm not up for grabs doesn't make me yours either." I said.

He hissed. "You're enjoying this aren't you?"

"Immensely."

"This is so hard for me you know."

"I know, which is why I'm enjoying it."

"Will you allow me to corrupt you completely?" He tried.

"I don't know, what does that mean?" I asked innocently. He growled.

"Would you like to piss of Amber?"

"I always piss of Amber." I grinned.

"Addison." He sighed.

"Yeeees?"

"Be more than just my friend."He said it so bluntly it actually took me by surprise.

"Okay." I was smiling so much it was actually hurting my face. Because he didn't ask for anything official, that we could label, and that's all I wanted.

"Thank you." He rested his head on my shoulder.

For a little while we just lay there, our hands joined and resting on my thigh.

"Could you take your sweater off?" He asked. I was confused but did it anyways, tossing it over the wide of the bed. Then I turned to him.

"Why did I take my sweater off again?"

"So that I can have nice, easy access." He replied, he had another evil smile on his face again.

"What?" I spluttered.

"I'm going to mark my territory. Did you think I was kidding? I promise Scarface, you're going to like this." When I didn't look convinced my planted a quick kiss on my lips again. "I promise."

I had said earlier that I was going to check on Quintan and James and after the moment we'd had, I was happy to slip out post waiting an hour or so. To catch my breath at the very least.

When I left the apartment, I'd grabbed my jeans and staggered into them. Just because I was in company that wasn't interested in looking at female legs didn't mean they didn't mind seeing me in my underwear and a batman t-shit which Castiel had praised about six or seven times.

I ran a few fingers through my hair even though it was a lost cause and rapped lightly on their door.

Quintan opened it and immediately bit back a smile, which I figured had something to do with the state of my hair or maybe my face. Or both.

"Oh Josh, we have a visitor who's going to tell us everything." He turned to me. "Right?"

How the hell could they possibly know that something had been going on?

Josh came to the door too, leaning on Quintan for support when he started giggling like mad.

"What?" I asked. "Nothing happened. I told you, we're just friends." Sort of. Maybe. Not really but yeah.

"Uh. Addison." Josh snickered. "Then who gave you all those?" He gestured to my throat.

My hand flew to my neck. Oh God, how many were there?

"That boy does good work, how many is that, six?" Quintan smirked.

"What? N-no it's not-!"I stammered.

"She still denies it!" Josh exclaimed wildly, like he was having the greatest fun. "We totally called it."

We were interrupted when Castiel stepped into the hallway clad in a pair of jeans he was wearing quite low. He smiled at Quintan and Josh, winked at me and gestured for me to come back inside.

Of course he was trying to make this worse for me but acting promiscuous. I ought to kill him.

"Six? Really?" I spat. "Six?"

"I thought you would have been paying more attention, my dove." He cooed, stepping towards me. "I guess she was a little bit busy to notice." He said to Quintan and Josh, who nodded eagerly.

"I can't believe you. Six?"

"I said I was marking my territory." He shrugged. "Though I'm beginning to think six wasn't enough." He reached for me and I ducked out of the way and took off down the hall.

I didn't get very far.

"Don't you dare." I said when he caught me and lifted me over his shoulder. "Put me down so help me God I will murder you violently-!"

"Sorry guys, I have to make sure she stays warm and all that." Castiel said to Quintan and Josh as we walked past them again.

Josh started laughing madly while Quintan was mouthing something along the lines of "go get some". I had never been so mortified in my entire life.

When he closed the door behind us he set me down and beamed at me like he'd just won Jeopardy. "That was fun."

"Don't be surprised if I start shunning you." I grumbled, wandering to the bathroom to take a look at my new love bites.

"Don't be like that." He grinned. "I've got a surprise for you."

"If it's another one of these you can forget about it." I pointed to one and shot him a glare in the mirror.

"Nope, but come on you did like that."

"D-did not."Damn stutter.

"Yes you did."

"A little." He smirked. "Ugh fine, what's the surprise anyways?"

"I've made an important discovery." He declared proudly.

"And what's that?"

He returned from the spare room with a laptop. My laptop.

"This was poking out of your school bag. It's fully charged. Want to pop a DVD in?"

Did I ever.

"I figure we'll watch movies until this runs out of juice and then sleep the rest of the storm away." He said. "It won't be long, we might even be back to school tomorrow if the cleanup goes okay. Or at least that's what the radio was saying."

"I'll need more concealer."I sighed. He just smiled at me.

Somehow, in that moment as we settled on the couch and considered going back tomorrow, I knew that it was too perfect. It was far too good to be true.

The water was definitely coming to a boil now.

I popped in a movie, and decided to forget about it for a little while. Because what mattered was that I was having a good moment. I needed to live it before it dissolved.

All too soon, I knew it would.

**Baha, I didn't know how to end it.**

**Even though it's cute, I'm not fond of this chapter. GRRRR. Oh well, I hope you guys like it because then staying up this late during exam weeks (you're special, the lot of you) will be TOTALLY WORTH IT.**


	10. My Worst Nightmare

**Disclaimer: Blah I own nothing. :'(**

**So yes I'm sorry this one took so long. I'm just meh. IT'S BECOME A LITTLE DIFFERENT THAN WHAT I WOULD HAVE LIKED.**

**I sincerely hope you like it though. I hope you all know that as slowly and horribly-written as these chapters come, they're all for you. 3**

**Thank you especially to ExactlyAmanda because without her this chapter would have probably taken longer to put up. So all credit goes to her. **

**Also I'm sorry for the cliff-hanger that may or may not be happening at the end of this chapter... heheh... love you all.**

_Love will find a way through paths where wolves fear to prey._

_-Lord Byron_

"I can't believe you have all of the best possible gangster movies on DVD." Castiel reminded me vaguely of a little boy in an arcade the way he pranced about my collection.

"I try."

He pulled out a few and then practically swooned over my James Bond tapes.

"Scarface you're my favourite human being right now. It's like you were created just for my happiness."

"Yeah." I sighed, rubbing my bruised neck. "And you were created for my annoyance."

"You don't mean that." He grinned. "Now, what should we watch first?"

He held up a selection of my most violent movies.

"If we watch three of those, you have to watch Tangled with me."

"No."

"Okay. We'll watch a musical then."

"Fine, I'll put up with Tangled. Just for you Scarface." He groaned.

"I feel so special." I smiled.

"I feel like you'll use this as blackmail later."

"You know me so well." I smiled cheekily. "If you can mark me as your 'territory' I can tell everyone you sat down and willingly watched Tangled with me."

"I won't have to tell them Scarface, they'll know." He winked.

"Shut up and put in a scary movie." I growled. He just smiled.

For the next four hours we were entertained... or absolutely petrified in my case, by a series of Stephen King movies, followed by an incredibly violent gangster movie.

Too bad for him I was not the kind of girl to leap into his arms at every scary bit, I got the feeling that's what he'd been expecting.

I liked scary movies, it was his unlucky day.

Nope, I was on the opposite end of the couch for all of those movies.

It was after I popped in Tangled and made a fresh bowl of popcorn that I finally crawled into his lap.

"Are you excited?" I asked in a sing-song tone.

"Giddy." He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled a blanket around us. At least he was getting comfortable, that meant he wasn't planning on leaving anytime soon.

Not even when Rapunzel started singing did he get up and walk out on the movie.

Not even when I started singing along with her.

"That guy is just like me." He said about the character Flynn Rider. I smiled because in less than five minutes he was about to get smacked in the face with a frying pan.

Heeheehee.

At some point after it had finished he got up to put in a James Bond before letting me lose myself in his arms again.

He started absent-mindedly drawing circles on my back and then digging in more, massaging all the tense muscles.

"That feels nice." I murmured, closing my eyes.

"You're really tight. You been stressing about something?"

I rolled my eyes under closed lids. "I'm stuck in a house in the cold with you, what's not to worry about?"

"Calm down, I'm not going to pounce on you and take your v-card like some kind of molester."

"No, of course not. You'll just hold me hostage in your jacket, cover me in love bites and poke at my past by pinning me to the floor and bombarding me with questions about my scars."

"You aren't afraid of me. You're afraid of him."

_WHY? WHY DO YOU KNOW ME THIS WELL? _

"Nonsense."

"You're a horrid liar. Why are you afraid of him? He isn't fucking mantracker. He won't find you."

"Close enough. He's smart. Even when he was piss drunk he was smart. When he bothered to stay sober he was... crazy smart. He knew everything. He was like this bottomless ocean of knowledge."

"He was also apparently fucking crazy."

"There was that, that was sort of an issue."

He scoffed.

"So, you think that he'll find you?" He was being casual about it, asking questions with the same nonchalance as Bond himself, who was now charming some crazy woman that had previously been playing with some weird cards. At least she was pretty.

"Yes. Stop asking."

"He won't."

"You don't know him."

"Lucky me then. He won't find you, Scarface." His tone had taken on more of a plea than its previous assurance.

"Of course not." I sighed, but I didn't believe it. Not for a second.

He held me tighter, and we both fell asleep as James Bond tricked that stupid woman into crawling into bed with him.

When I woke up Castiel was packing up his bag again.

"Guess what, Scarface? They've opened up the school. We get to go back."

"Oh yay." I stretched and stood wandering into my room to switch shirts. I wanted desperately to opt for a turtleneck or something but remembered quickly that I didn't have one. By God when would I ever have willingly bought a turtleneck? Not my thing. None of the shirts I owned covered my neck.

_Oh God I am so screwed. _

"Come on Scarface, pick a shirt or I'll have to choose one for you."

I shrugged on a deep blue blouse. I hated blouses, but it covered most of the love bites, except for... okay so maybe it didn't really cover them, but it would have to do for now.

"Time's a wasting, Scarface."

Wearily, I trudged out of the room and grabbed my jacket. "How cold is it outside?"

"Freezing."

"Awesome. Let's go." I shrugged on my coat and we headed downstairs and back out into the cold.

"There. It isn't that bad." Castiel said behind clouded breaths. "I think it's gotten warmer."

Meanwhile, I shook like an earthquake beside him.

"It. Has. Not." I replied bitterly, every time I inhaled my lungs seemed to freeze. It wasn't the most pleasant of sensations. "Are we there yet?"

"Scarface, we just started out." The nickname sounded completely awkward on his tongue, but not nearly as bad as what he said next. "Can I just please start calling you Addison?"

Addison. It was completely foreign coming from Castiel, but it made my insides feel funny in a totally blissful sort of oh-god-you-embarrass-me-feelings sort of way. So I grumbled that yes, he could call me by my proper name.

As we approached the school, he glanced around and took my hand.

"Do you not want people to see us together?" I asked, ignoring the tingly sensation in my palms.

"No. I want him to see." He nodded towards Nathaniel, who was struggling into the school with a box or crap. Or had been, until he saw us, and nearly dropped the thing.

Castiel waved to him with a sarcastically pleasant and gloating grin. Nathaniel stormed inside the school.

"Brilliant. Does everyone hate me now?"

"I don't have you." He said, with a smile that plainly stated he assumed that his opinion was all that mattered.

"Other than you." I groaned.

"Lysander, Iris and Kim don't."

"Three people, whoop-dee-do."

"Did you honestly just say that?"

"Yes. I did."

He rolled his eyes.

We pushed open the front doors, still hand-in-hand, and I felt really good and really frightening at the same time. Once people found out (as they inevitably would, this was high school after all), that Castiel and I had spent a few nights together in a storm, they would automatically assume we'd done more than a little cuddling in order to keep warm.

_Oh noooo._

When we started down the hall, I could see Amber and her two idiots in expensive clothing at the opposite end of it. Castiel looked absolutely giddy at the sight of them.

"I feel really evil about this." I muttered.

"Good. You're hot when you're evil."

I glared up at him.

"You're also hot when you're mad." He winked down at me.

"Well you're absolutely evil always."

"I'm glad you've noticed, I practice my evil in front of the mirror every day."

I laughed and he put an arm around my waist, dropping my hand.

We passed Iris, whose mouth gaped open and she mouthed something like "SPILL" at me. I made a face at her and she stifled a giggle.

Amber and the two Prada slaves were up next. Castiel casually brushed some of my hair off of my bruised neck. I was, not for the first time and certainly not for the last, torn between punching him in the throat and kissing him madly in a closet somewhere.

As soon as she saw me, her eyes flickered to my neck, and her jaw dropped. "Oh my-."

"Mmm Castiel. I wish we were back at my place." I stage-whispered in his ear. "I miss staying warm together."

That was it for Amber, she turned pink enough to match the Barbie shade of lipstick she wore.

"Only six more hours, Addison. Then I promise I'll warm you up again." He in turn whispered in my ear, though he decided to take the act a little further and nibble on mine. I had to bite back my infamous coughing fit.

When I glanced over at Amber she was a no-so-charming shade of scarlet. We sidled away before she could tear us into pieces with her manicure.

"I can't believe that just happened. I am going to be murdered." I grumbled, opening my locker and debating bashing my head against it multiple times.

I settled for bashing my head against it once, earning a chuckle from Castiel.

"You're an idiot."

"I am! I can't believe I let you drag me into this." I sighed.

"What? Regret being my girlfriend already?" He feigned hurt.

"No. But I certainly regret these." I gestured to the bites all over my neck.

"No you don't. Liar." He dumped a load of books into his bag and turned to me. "If you want, later I can remind you just how much you don't regret those."

"Shut up." I glowered at him, grabbing my books and stalking off towards the English classroom. I had a feeling it was going to be a long day.

I spent most of the first period staring out the windows, the wind had died down somewhat, the frozen rain still beat mercilessly at the ground which brought back a few memories that I didn't really enjoy remembering.

The leaves had been stripped from the trees, which I was cross about. It was barely the beginning of autumn and the colours hadn't even started coming out on them before they were torn from their branches by the heavy rain and strong winds.

I loved looking at the colours, and now I wouldn't get to unless the trees decided to spontaneously grow more leaves and then have them change, which I doubted was possible.

"All this thinking you're doing is really bugging me." Castiel said, partway through the last act in Romeo and Juliet. "Are you okay?"

"It's just the leaves." I grumbled, I'm not sure he heard me, but he seemed to understand that it wasn't a big deal.

The bell rang and we filed out, he was grinning from ear to ear.

"What have you done?" I asked, instantly suspicious.

"Kim isn't here today. Neither is my usual partner. Looks like we'll have to be partners instead."

Iris, who had heard most of this conversation, winked at me and gave me a thumbs up. She was too adorable and nice to even consider being angry with.

"Yay." I shook my head, laughing and headed into the girl's change room.

I made it into a bathroom stall before most of the girls came in and was changed and in the gym before they could even start whispering about me. Success.

If you've never been in a co-ed gym class, it's pretty awkward at first. Most of the guys avoided us females like the deathly plague and we in turn, pretended they didn't exist.

Today, the fine line in between male and female groups was absolutely shattered because Castiel and I paired up. Also, I had hickeys all over my neck, which he seemed eager to show off, that definitely caused a stir.

A girl I hadn't talked too much walked over to one of the more shy boys and asked him to be her partner. So it began. Each girl paired up with a guy. The gym teacher exclaimed that it was just about the strangest but also most encouraging thing he'd seen out of us yet.

I forced Castiel to go to all of his classes. He almost did, except for the one we didn't have together, which he spent pacing about in the hallways outside of vocals class, glaring at anyone who made eye contact except for me and Lysander.

Lysander however, was far too busy noticing this Kara girl's lovely green dress to pay him much attention.

When final bell rang Castiel dragged me into the band practice room where him and Lysander entertained me with music by the Black Keys. Kara came along too, which is probably why Lysander was bright red the whole time.

Castiel informed me that Lys didn't like people hearing him, but he also really liked Kara. Naturally, demon spawn being the 'great friend' he was decided to invite her without telling him.

After they finished Lonely Boy by the Keys Lysander leaned over to Castiel. "You should play that piece you were telling me about."

Castiel kept his head down, still looking at his guitar, but I saw him begin to flush red.

"No."

"What is it?" I asked.

"A thing."

I rolled my eyes. "Very helpful, I got a lot out of that response."

"Good, so you won't ask for another one." He snapped.

"I will." I retorted.

He made a growling noise and looked up at me, cold defeat on his features. "I wrote a song. On the guitar. It doesn't have words, I don't do words."

"Play it." Kara and I chorused.

"Absolutely not."

"Please?"

"No."

"Tell me what it's called then." I begged.

"No."

"Why not?"

He looked away, I turned to Lysander for an explanation.

"Lysander? Would you happen to know what this song is called?"

Lysander nodded and beamed. "I do indeed."

"Would you care to tell us?" I asked.

"I'm afraid that is a secret I've been told to keep and-."

"Please?" Kara sighed.

That sold him, but just as he opened his mouth to tell us Castiel said,

"Fine. It's called Her."

"Her?" I was confused.

"Yes. Her. As in that girl, that I like. That one named Addison. Her." He rolled his eyes, but a shy smile lit the corners of his mouth. It was so timid and un-castiel-like it took me a while to recover and process what he'd just said. When I did, my eyes widened.

My turn to flush red. Six eyes were on me, and mine were trained on the floor.

_Breathe in, breathe out._

I honestly wasn't sure at all what was running through my mind. Probably something along the lines of,

WHATINTHEACTUALHELLFUCKSHITH OLYTITSISTHISHAPPENING?

Something like that.

I was essentially completely lost in my own world of mass panic mixed with pure bliss, which I was shaken out of violently when he started playing the guitar.

It sounded a little like the beginning of a Mumford and Sons song, which shocked me. Die hard rock fan, and he had written a song like this? Not that I was complaining. It was beautiful.

The song had a sweet sort of melody to it that seemed to be a compilation of everything I loved about us. It sounded like togetherness. It was bittersweet, sad and happy at the same time.

As he played he muttered a few words, I caught _her scars _and _my arms_ and I felt like sobbing and laughing and making him stop and making him stop by kissing him right then and there.

He stopped partway into what I assumed was the chorus and we both looked up to find the door closing behind Lysander and Kara.

"How could they possibly leave in the midst of that?" I asked, completely astonished. Those were the only words that I could form without mass stammering and more blushing.

"I think they wanted us to have a little privacy." He grinned. "What do you think?"

"About the song?"

"No. About the fucking daffodils. Yes, the song." He shook his head and sighed.

"It's-it's so good." _If I could marry it I would._ "I like it." _We'd have beautiful melodious children. _"How long did it take to write?" _Song-babies are totally possible. Right?_

"Not long. I had a lot of inspiration." He smiled and I my heart seemed to want to burst of out the confinement of my rib cage, which suddenly felt awfully tight.

I'm pretty sure he leaned in first, shifting his guitar off his lap. Our lips met and his hands found my waist and encircled it, pulling me closer. I replaced the guitar's previous spot, sitting on his lap.

"Be honest. How many girls have you seduced with songs?" I asked between kisses.

"None, unless you're admitting that it worked." He replied cockily.

I growled, and kissed him instead of answering. I bit down on his lip lightly and he smiled against mine. I felt his tongue slip into my mouth and did the same, eagerly exploring his taste.

He was kind of minty, and tasted a little like smoke too, and oh-so incredibly similar to sin, which only made me kiss him harder. I _wanted _sin.

I had previously been tangling my fingers in his hair, but moved them down to his shirt, they found their way underneath it and up his bare chest. I could feel the hard bumps of his abs.

The door to the classroom opened again. In a completely ungraceful feat to distance myself from Castiel I leaped off of his lap, taking out a few desks and chairs and landing in a heap on the floor.

I could hear all three of them laughing at me. Ha guys, very funny.

I was relatively certain that my side stitches had split open somewhere and were bleeding again, but I was too busy trying to detangle my legs from the legs of several desks and chairs.

Castiel was laughing the hardest of anyone, clutching his stomach like he did when I did something stupid and he found it funny.

When I stood, Lysander and Kara kept laughing, but Castiel stopped and paled visibly. He pointed to my hip.

I already knew what I'd find when I looked down. There was probably a tad of blood soaking through my shirt. Big deal.

When I did actually glance at my blouse I instantly felt a little nauseous. There was more than just a little blood. My whole side was red.

I met Castiel's eyes and he clearly saw the panic in mine because he jumped up and stood next to me, covering the side that was bleeding everywhere.

"We need to be going actually. I have to get spazzoid home before she breaks something." With that he took my hand and pulled me and his guitar from the room. We got about halfway down the hall before I stopped.

My legs felt a lot like JELL-O which seems like it would be a neat sensation.

It wasn't.

I leaned over a garbage can and prepared to puke but nothing came up.

Castiel scooped me up into his arms, my bleeding side pressed up against his chest.

"I'm going to get blood all over you, put me down."

"Ah yes, because you were doing such a good job of walking."

"I was, actually. I'm glad you noticed."

"Are you really going to be like that when you're bleeding out?"

"I'm not bleeding out, drama queen. I'm just bleeding a little. The sight just kind of freaked me out."

"A little? Yeah okay. The blood donation clinic would be having a field day right now. Speaking of clinic, that's where we're headed."

"WHAT? No. Absolutely not. Castiel they'll see the scar and-!"

"Not up for debate."

I wriggled out of his arms. "Yes it is. I'm not going to a clinic."

"What do you plan on doing then?" He spat. "Sewing yourself up again?"

"Yes."

"Are you fucking crazy?" He yelled.

"Yes."

"No." He picked me up again and held me firmly against him. "Compromise, we go see the Nurse what's-her-face."

"Isley?" She sort of annoyed me, but it was a fine alternative to being carried to a hospital.

"FINE."

We were moving swiftly through the hallways, he looked overly concerned. My side did hurt, but I was certain it would be fine, this had happened before after all.

There was a factor however, we hadn't considered.

Isley had left. It was the end of the day, she was gone, her office dark and locked.

"Darn, guess we are going to the clinic." Castiel shrugged.

"No. Look it's already stopped bleeding." I whined, lifting my shirt slightly to show him.

I could see in his eyes there was a massive battle going on. To argue or not to argue, that was his question. I knew he trusted me, but he was definitely concerned and that meant he was going to try and take charge of the situation, control it.

"Castiel." I said firmly.

"What?"

"I am going home now."

He sighed again, strands of red hair blowing out of his face as he did. "Fine, it isn't as bad as I thought." He glanced at my side once more before nodding curtly. "I'll walk you home."

"Thanks, but you could really just go back in and keep making beautiful songs about me." I teased. He scowled up at me, but a familiar smile graced his features.

"Fine. Also if you tell anyone else about that I'll be forced to do horrible things to you." Okay. That was hot. Did he have any idea that some of the things he said made me want to ravish him in the middle of the damn hallways. Of course he did, the cocky bastard.

I pointed at my neck, "You already have, jerk-face."

"Good one." He winked and I turned to go.

"Not so fast, Addison." He growled in a voice that pretty much reduced me to a puddle of melted Addison, he caught me, fingers wrapping around my own.

"What're you-?" He twirled me towards him and our lips met in what was, on my part, a very frustrated goodbye kiss.

"May I go now?" I breathed once he pulled away. My next sentence was cut to pieces by the quick pecks he gave. "Because I..." "Really need to..." "Get home and..." "Do homework."

"Why do you insist on trying to talk when I'm trying to kiss you?"

"You aren't very good at distracting me I suppose."

He held me tighter. "Take that back Addison Richards."

"Absolutely not." I grinned and flounced away.

"That, my dear, is a belief we shall have to remedy later." He called after me.

I pushed open the doors, only glancing back to stick my tongue out at him like the mature human being I was, and surrendered to the cold outdoors.

The weather was being peculiar in a way that only weather can be. The sky, though mostly clear save for a few wispy clouds, was still heavily freckled with snowflakes falling towards the earth. The sun hit them in such a way that each individual piece of snow looked like silvery glitter spiraling downwards.

I felt happy, like a child again. Maybe Castiel was right, maybe Dad wouldn't find me.

After everything I'd been through in the past whatever force was kind enough to make an outdoor scene as beautiful as this one would take pity on me, let me live normally.

As it turns out, that same force was an evil one, because though Castiel had been poor at distracting me that day, the weather did not cease to captivate my more earnest attentions.

That's probably why I missed the familiar truck outside the apartments; I was too busy marveling at the glass-like fragments of frozen water falling around me. I somehow managed to ignore the fact that the door of the lobby had been left unlocked, even though you needed a key to open it. I had been watching the clouds swirl above me.

Once inside though, away from the alluring beauty of the outdoors, I did notice that my apartment was unlocked.

Had I forgotten to lock it in the morning? But Josh usually checked it because he knew I was forgetful.

The more likely reason was that he had used the spare key to get something from my place, they always needed ingredients for stuff.

Still, a nervousness had settled like ice in the pit of my stomach, one that hadn't really been brought on in a while.

I pushed open the apartment door and stepped inside. I was instantly overcome with dread. The atmosphere seemed wrong, something had been spilled on the floor that looked awfully similar to alcohol. My albums were strewn about the floor, my couch torn open.

_When he was drunk, he used to have such a hard time finding me that he'd search everything for even the slightest trace of me to beat._

My converse crunched on broken glass as I moved towards the television, left on a show that had constantly been on in a past life.

_He used to throw things at the television whenever Jeopardy came on. He used to know all the answers and then it all went wrong._

I felt the sickening feeling of hot, sticky breath on my neck.

"Addison, I'm home." He whispered.

**Ooooooh you guys are gonna haaaaate me.**


	11. My Head Hurts

**DISCLAIMER: HEY SO I DON'T OWN THIS STUFF, 'CEPT ADDISON. THE FACT THAT I DON'T OWN CASTIEL IS A FACT I WOULD LOVE TO REMEDY. ;)**

**Anyhoo, thought I ought to get this up pronto before y'all murdered me. LOVE YOU ALL. Thanks for all the sweet reviews and the love and sorry again about finishing the last chapter like that (sometimes I'm just evil).**

**All my love doe, for realsies.**

**XX**

_That's the thing about family, when someone you once trusted turns against you it feels a lot like you're drowning, but try as you might you just can't fucking die._

_-Unknown_

I fell into my usual instinctive motion, just like back at home. I froze. If I tried to do anything else, I'd only make the situation worse, staying still was safe.

"Why did you run away from me, Addison?" He asked.

My mind was working at a rapid pace, maybe now that I'd had some time to recover things would be different. Maybe I could talk to him this time.

I turned to face him despite alarms in my head telling me that doing so was bad. Immediately I received the backside of his hand, cutting across my cheekbone and sending pain shooting through my skull. My backpack slung off and my face connected violently with the floor.

Time seemed to slow, I could see my backpack a few feet away and I noticed the pocket that held my iPod was open and empty. It must have fallen out when I dropped it to scramble on top of Castiel after he played his song about me.

_Oh God, if only he were here. _

My father grabbed my shoulder and hauled me to my feet, shoving my roughly on to the torn couch.

"It took me a long time to find you."

The first blow was directed at my face again, my head snapped to the side, blood gushed from where a ring had made contact with my skin. I cringed and fought to move off of the couch but he held me down, eyes flickering to my side, still stained with blood.

"I remember this." He cocked his head, raising my shirt to stare at the wound. Each word he spoke stained the air with the smell of alcohol, bitter and stale, much like the man himself. He stared at the cut with an odd fascination, the same kind he once wore when he surveyed my mother, like he was looking at art.

Before I could blink he produced a hunting knife from his pocket, appropriate seeing as he'd spend this past month and a bit hunting me. He leaned over my stitches, I was confused as to what he was doing until he split one with the blade. It stung. A lot.

I could feel blood dripping off my side and I met his hazel eyes, which were identical to my own only his were full of a tantalizing out of control rage that I feared with every bone in my body. Mine were full of tears. In one swift movement he tore all the stitches open.

I was momentarily blinded by the white hot pain that followed, and looking into the darkness of the worst I'd ever felt I realized that my worst nightmare had been confirmed, he was definitely going to kill me.

But I didn't really want to die. Not at all did I want to.

I had so much left that I wanted to do. Castiel being number one on that list.

Yes I know, my dramatic thoughts of living my life were ruined by my thoughts of... well... more graphic things. Through my tears I raised false hopes and brief beautiful dreams to try and tear myself away from the pain.

I wanted to thank and stomp on my hormones.

In an effort to escape I struggled off the couch on to my knees, which only granted me a hard kick to the ribs. I doubled over, clutching at my chest, fire spreading through my veins. I cried out, fingers digging, scratching at the floor.

He kicked me again, though that time something audibly snapped. Crack.

I choked, gasping for air. There was definitely something wrong, very incredibly wrong with one of my lungs because it was getting harder and harder to breathe. My heart was pounding at an unsteady rate, any second now I would just die. I was certain.

He cracked something heavy on my back, I heard it shatter and with all the screaming I was doing, you'd think I was shattering too. Crack.

Good thing that most of the apartments were designed to block noise. Shit.

I fell on to my stomach and rolled over, stars flashing in my vision like a strobe light.

"It can take a healthy human up to eight minutes to die after you've slit they're throat." He said, as if he were merely stating fact. There was a bit of blood on the bottom of his shirt that I could safely say was mine. "How many new cuts could I give you before that time runs out?"

_Oh my God._

I thrashed feebly about, my hands flying to my neck. My apartment door creaked open and a head of red hair could just be seen staring through at the scene in the family room, but I ignored it because I was feeling very dizzy and was focused more on thinking.

It had a kind of poetic justice to it, Addison Richards murdered in the family room by her father. I decided that if somehow I lived through this I would never ever find poetic justice funny ever again. But I wouldn't live, he was going to slit my throat and I would die quite quickly considering I was already bleeding out of many other places.

The tip of the blade pierced the skin of my neck, I made a guttural sound that could only be described as pathetic, but he didn't get the chance to drag it across the rest of me, over the bruises that currently marked me. The very same person who had given me those bruises wasn't giving me up that easily apparently.

Castiel made an inhuman growling noise when he charged at my father. He swiped up a beer bottle from the floor and smashed it over Dad's skull.

When Dad climbed to his feet, I knew it was over. Castiel didn't stand a chance against the smartest man I'd ever known. He took a hit to the chest and my heart broke as he staggered backwards. Another punch and his lip was cracked open, bleeding down his chin.

"Run." I moaned, trying to sit up and pull my father away. If I died it was my own damn fault for being so weak and useless, but Castiel didn't mean to be dragged into this.

My Dad shoved me back, my head slammed into the coffee table. From what I saw through blurred vision that is what gave my red-headed hero enough time to deck my father a massive punch in the face. When he was recovering, Castiel had enough time to grab a kitchen knife and slam the handle down on our assailant's head.

Dad crumpled in a heap on the floor.

In a flash, Castiel was knelt over me, cradling my head.

"Shit." He hissed, he grabbed the phone from the counter and returned swiftly to my side.

I must have blacked out while he called 9-1-1 but when I came back to my senses up he was putting the phone down on the floor.

"Sorry." I murmured, blinking up at him, I tried to shift and was greeted by a not-so-friendly stabbing sensation just about everywhere in my body.

"Yes Addison, this is definitely your fault." He said sarcastically, his voice trembled with adrenaline. "Because you just let him in to the apartment and invited him to attack you."

I smiled, even that managed to make my body hurt.

"Am I gonna die?" I asked. "It feels like I am."

"No. Well, eventually, but not today."

"Howabouttomorrow?" I slurred, my vision clouded, I forced myself to get a grip.

"Shut up. You aren't going to die."

"But I'm bleeding all over the apartment. My Aunt is going to kill me." I regained some of my consciousness again.

"There are more murderous people in your family?" He snickered. "Bring 'em on."

I groaned. "No. Just the incapacitated one. Why did you come?"

"You forgot your iPod, I wanted to return it like the kind, gentle man I am."

"You're right, that was definitely the most gentle way to take down an intruder." I retorted.

The wails of the ambulance greeted us and paramedics flooded the apartment like ants attempting to escape from the murderous powers of RAID.

They lifted me up on to a stretcher, enticing a lot of screaming from me and a lot of "Be fucking careful!" from Cas.

Once carried down the stairs and into the ambulance, I was told to relax and I did, closing my eyes and letting the pain ebb away slowly.

Eventually I drifted off, whatever they had fed my body was making me completely and utterly numb. It was kind of nice, minus the whole loopy-drugged-up feeling.

In my dreams, I was standing on a stage singing while Castiel played the guitar.

A man scrambled up on the stage and started choking me. It was Dad.

I looked at the audience but none of them even moved an inch to help me.

Then Castiel beat him over the head with his precious guitar and we started dancing around the stage while my father's split skull bled all over the audience. Crack.

You know, they say that dreams mean something. Usually I can try to interpret them but I had no idea what to make of that.

Whatever it was had me smirking when my eyes opened again.

I woke up, Castiel shifted in a chair beside my hospital bed and smiled at me.

"You look like shit."

"Thank you, I really appreciate your encouraging comment on the state of my appearance." I snapped, I attempted to sit up and decided it definitely wasn't worth the blinding pain, lying back down.

"Don't get me wrong, love, he could have dragged you through a minefield and you'd still be beautiful."

I laughed and then clutched my side. "Coincidentally I feel kind of like I've been dragged through a minefield. Or hit my a transport truck carrying dumbbells."

"The doctor said you'd be fine to leave in like a week. You should check out your new stitches."

I peered down at them under the fabric of my hospital gown. "They're bright red."

"So that you'll always remember who saved your life." He grinned.

"Until they fall out." I added. He frowned.

"Shut up."

I grinned. "No worries demon spawn, I'd never forget you." A pause as he wiped away a mock-tear. "What happened to Dad?"

"They took him away, to a nice cozy jail cell I hope. Actually fuck that, I hope it isn't even cozy."

"That's harsh." I snickered. I was pretty happy to see dear-ol'-Dad gone. In all honesty, who wouldn't be? There was still a small part of me that believed the real Dad was in there, the one I used to know, but another part of me knew it would take a long time for that version of him to emerge again.

Maybe he never would.

"Don't look so sad, Scarface. I got you these." Castiel produced a bouquet of flowers from the floor beside his chair and presented them to me. It was a compilation of lilacs and white daisies which looked splendid, though I'm sure he just picked the nicest-looking one he could find.

A silver hear-shaped balloon was floating on the ceiling, the white string sitting a few inches away from his head.

"You really outdid yourself Castiel." I teased. "All this for me?"

"Don't let it go to your head." He flushed bright red and his voice took on a defensive tone. "Lysander insisted I get you flowers and the balloon was... uh... Iris' idea."

_Suuuure it was._

"Anyways, it isn't quite right for this situation." He looked slightly sheepish and a little bit mischievous at the same time. He pulled the balloon down and showed me the writing.

"Congratulations, it's a boy!" I read. "Are you serious?"

I burst out laughing as he tried to explain to me that it was the only one left, that it was super cheap and he'd always thought they were really cool.

"When a new nurse came in she congratulated me and asked what the baby's name was." He hid his face in his palms. "I was so embarrassed."

"Did you tell her that I hadn't actually birth to a child?" I asked through tears of laughter.

"Nope."

"What? Why not?"

"Because she's a friend of Amber's." He grinned. "Not one of her Prada slaves, another girl that follows her around some days."

"When Amber hears that-."

"I can't wait." He said. "This is totally worth it."

"I'll kill you." I groaned. "I will actually kill you." He stood and moved by my side, feigning hurt.

"How rude. I saved your life you know." I looked up at his slightly bruised face. He had saved my life. I hadn't even thanked him. Not once.

I opened my mouth to do so and he put a finger to my lips.

"It was my pleasure." He breathed. Castiel leaned down and kissed me briefly, then added. "Once you're all better though, you owe me some serious thank you sex."

A young nurse stood who'd been standing the doorway's eyes widened and she quickly moved away, muttering about how Amber was going to kill someone.

"Please tell me you just did that to bother Amber?" I asked hopefully.

"I guess you'll find out." He winked down at me.

**PS. This ain't over yet. I've got at least another chapter for you and then I was thinking maybe a sequel or one about Lysander and Kara or just a different couple and a different scenario altogether...?**

**My Candy Zombies was some crazy idea that popped into my head in which the story took place during a zombie apocalypse. (I know, I know, I'm crazy) **

**Anyways, you guys just let me know, and be prepared for an ending to this story. *Tears up* **


	12. My Happy Day

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING BUT ADDISON AND KARA EVEN THOUGH KARA PLAYS A MINOR ROLE I THOUGHT IT WAS WORTH MENTIONING SO YEAH.**

**Soooorrryyyyy.**

**Apologia. Apologia. Apologia :/**

_What are quotes anyways? Just famous people thoughts right? Yeah well I have important thoughts too! Just not at the moment..._

_-Me_

I spent most of my days in hospital in and out of a painkiller induced coma, which I can very easily compare to being underwater in a lake on a summers day, because it was bright and murkywarm and at the same time.

On some of the rare occasions when I was awake they pumped me full of breakfast milkshake things that tasted astoundingly similar to liquefied chalk with the nauseatingly obvious flavour of added vitamins. I was starting to get the feeling these people believed that my pale skin was a side of malnourishment or something, because every time I was awake I got vitamins or something incredibly healthy.

I would have killed for some chocolate.

Sometimes Castiel would pop in, never bringing anyone with him, and sit next to me for a while. I couldn't really see him through the fogginess but I could feel his presence. It became harder for me to ignore him when he would take my hand in his.

In those moments I wanted to jolt awake, jump off the bed and kiss him, but the way he drew patterns on the back of my hand with his thumb just made me more relaxed.

One day I woke up and the nurse told me that I wouldn't be pumped full of painkillers anymore, she said I'd made a speedy recovery. Then she, rather bluntly, said I was, rather suddenly, being discharged the next day and left.

I sat there and tried to ignore the bright room, settling instead for staring at the sliver of sky I could see though the blinds. Then a splash of colour interrupted.

A head poked around the doorframe.

"Hey." Castiel said from the door. "Glad to see you're up. You look a little less like a zombie today." He leaned slightly against the wall, as if waiting for some kind of cue from me. I nodded and he moved into the room more, coming to sit in the chair next to the bed.

"I hope so, because apparently they're booting me out tomorrow."

"Too bad, it was nice not hearing you talk so often."

I reached over and hit him in the shoulder, surprisingly it didn't hurt me, but it definitely hadn't hurt him either.

"I also think I like this weaker version of you better." He grinned. "Less hazardous to my health."

"Ah yes, because you're the one in the hospital bed." I rolled my eyes.

No, that would be me. Still I could see a few lingering bruises on his face from where my Dad had punched him, he was still hurt.

He must have seen how worried I looked, because he sighed.

"Don't look at me like that Addie. I'm fine."

I nodded, unconvinced, then my expression changed again, to annoyance.

"Did you just call me Addie?"

"I thought I'd try it. No?"

"Absolutely not." I laughed.

"Too bad, Addie."

I growled back at him, something about how he'd pay for coming up with that nickname. He just stood up and waltzed around like an invitation for me to get up and hit him.

"Oh by the way your Aunt came to town. She's kind of..."

"Flighty, odd, quirky?" I offered.

"Uh. Interesting."

"Is she still here?"

"No. She was really worried and came to see you, but she had some fashion thing to do so I told her I'd watch over you. She called me your 'guardian angel'." He pulled a face. "I'm not sure whether I should rub that in or puke."

"Charming." I grinned. "It's too bad she couldn't stay, I would have liked to see her."

"She said she'd be back in a week or so."

That wasn't too bad.

"What about Dad?"

"Prison."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he can't hurt you anymore. I won't let anyone hurt you anymore. Ever."

"Thank you."

"It's my pleasure." He took a bow, his red hair falling into his face. "Though there is one thing I ask in return."

"Uh oh."

"Guess what's in two days?" He asked, looking incredibly sheepish.

Uh oh. Double uh oh. Infinity uh oh.

"The semi thing?"

He nodded grimly.

"But but but but I don't want to go." I whined. "I'm too injured."

"You are not, liar. You feel fine. Anyways, you promised before."

"Two days doesn't give me enough time to find a dress."I protested smugly, folding his arms.

"That's why Lysander and I are coming over tomorrow, bringing dresses Lysander borrowed from his brother's store."

I struggled with this idea for a while. "Fine, but you can't see any of what I try on. It has to be a surprise."

"Whatever you wish, my dearest Addison." He winked.

He had an extra mischievous air about him today that I didn't quite trust.

"What time is it?"

"Just after lunch."

"What day is it?"

"Wednesday."

I gave him a stern look. "Go to school you slacker."

"No." He shot back, sitting on the edge of my bed. I felt the pressure change and the whole room felt a little warmer.

I don't know why they keep hospitals so damn cold, especially when they dress you in pretty much nothing.

My frustration with human kind ceased when his slight movement captured my attention.

He reached down, bunching some of the fabric sheets between his fingers. It gave me an opportunity to study his expression, which had changed.

He was biting his lower lip and seemed to be completely lost in thought, eyes scanning the bed as if mapping it out.

Then he must've noticed me watching because he looked up.

His eyes were lit with something kind of like lust, with something else I couldn't quite place.

Either way, I felt nervous and excited and all other thoughts vanished.

Castiel leaned in and pressed his lips gently against mine. I responded eagerly, like an addict ceasing their withdrawal.

He was holding my face as though I was fragile and I wanted much more than that.

I pulled him down on top of me by the collar of his jacket. He moaned, startled, and continued to be so gentle I thought maybe it was an evil twin that was bent on my inner destruction.

He pushed up on his arms, separating our lips.

"What is going on?" I demanded.

He bit his lip again and surveyed my face. We stayed like that for a while, him on top of me, we were so close his bangs were tickling my forehead.

"I don't want to hurt you." The words rushed over me and I felt like I was drowning, but pleasantly. My skin tingled.

I took his face in my hands. "I'm fine, you said it yourself. You can't hurt me, you said you never would. And the only way you're hurting me is by holding back." His expression displayed determined understanding.

He grinned. "And you want more?" I felt his breath on my ear and shivered.

"Yes." I became blissfully aware the only thing that separated us was his clothes and my thin hospital gown.

When he didn't move right away I pulled his face down to mine and kissed him angrily, he responded with equal ferocity.

An alarm beeped and he pulled back again, checking his watch.

"Uh oh Addie. I have to go now." He put on his most evil grin and ducked out of the hospital room before I could even manage a 'you asshole'.

He pushed past the same fretting nurse in the hallway. She just looked at me and shook her head before carrying on.

Despite how frustrated I was, I couldn't help but lay back and giggle. The crazy bugger was going to be the death of me.

The same fretting nurse rolled me out of my room via wheelchair the next day and dumped me unceremoniously in the main foyer. Castiel was waiting there with Lysander.

There was a brief debate over whether not we should steal the wheelchair or not, but Lysander and I were on the same team, two against one. So we opted not to.

"You guys never let me have any fun." Castiel grumbled, opening the door to my apartment and helping me inside. I was still pretty sore, incredibly so as I wasn't pumped with painkillers anymore.

"Hey," I retorted. "You're dragging me to the school's stupid pre-semi nonsense."

"Yeah but that's only 'cause _he's _dragging _me._" He pointed at Lysander who was bent over the couch with a haul of dresses.

"Please don't drag me into your useless arguments and general stupid banter." Lysander sighed, not turning his attention from the dresses.

I stared open-mouthed around the apartment.

It had been in a real state when I saw it last, my poor albums were strewn everywhere, dishes were broken on the floor.

Now everything appeared to be back in place, the floor sparkled, new dishes sat dried in the rack, waiting to be put away. I walked robotically into the panic room. The albums were back in their cases on the shelf where they belonged. It was such a happy sight.

Castiel hugged me from behind, his arms snaking around my waist. "Impressed?" His lips brushed the base of my neck.

"Definitely." I replied, leaning backwards against him. "Also incredibly grateful."

He ruffled my hair. "Uh oh, you aren't getting all sentimental now are you?"

"No. But thank you." I sighed contentedly.

Castiel was dragged backwards, we were yanked abruptly from our happy couple moment by Lysander, who shoved a dress bag in my face.

"That was rather harsh and intrusive for the actions of a gentleman." I quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Allow me." Castiel stepped back into view and gave an overly sarcastic sweeping bow. I giggled.

Even under the circumstances (the dress ones) it felt so good to be back in my place bickering and teasing with Castiel. Him and Lysander were seriously top-notch friends. The whole familiarity of my apartment was all too comforting. It was good to be back.

I was too pleased to conjure up a single thought about Dad. All to happy, all too careless.

At least until I was until I opened the black garment bag.

Castiel almost tried to break down the bedroom door when I shrieked but Lysander calmed him down with just a six words.

"The first one's pink with bows."

There was an awkward pause while that registered in Castiel's head.

What followed was maniacal laughter.

"She's going to kill you for even suggesting that one." He managed through his giggles.

I zipped up the garment back. "Absolutely not."

Lysander laughed lightly. "I assumed as much. I was merely hoping that one of you would get a kick out of that."

"Who would even think about putting that much pink on one dress. And the bows?" I had now stripped down to just my underthings to prepare for whenever Lysander handed me a real dress and not a Halloween costume for Little Bo Drag Queen.

"Addie dearest. I've selected a dress for you." The bedroom door slid open a crack.

Oh God no. Not again.

I threw my weight against it, my ribs stung. "COULD YOU NOT?" I demanded through the wood. "Also you aren't supposed to see the dresses."

"Calm down, nothing I haven't seen before." I could hear the mischief in his voice. "And I can't see the dresses through the bags I just picked one at random so I'm not breaking any rules here."

I blew a strand of cinnamon hair out of my face and let him push his way in. It was all fine and dandy until he actually came in the room, after which I began a frantic self-conscious dance named "cover up as much as possible ASAP". It's rather spastic I don't recommend trying it in front of attractive men.

"Don't be difficult." He muttered, dropping the bag containing my potential pre-semi dress unceremoniously on the bed and stalking towards me.

There was this moment of silence while he took hold of my hips and looked me over. It was both with approval and worry. I suppose I passed the fragility test because the next second we were making out. Our lips were locked in a feverish manner, I just couldn't seem to get enough.

He pressed me up against the dresser, my thighs hit the surface of it.

Furniture was getting in the way. How the hell do you deal with furniture getting in the way in a situation like that?

I don't know how most people manage, but I slip atop the damned dresser, my lips never once leaving his. Castiel's fingers skimmed up and down my thighs, my waist. I relished the feeling.

"Um."

Both of us froze.

Lysander had poked his head in the doorframe and was both blushing the same colour as a fire hydrant and grinning like a fool.

"I came to see which dress he'd picked. Bad timing?"

"Incredibly bad timing." Castiel grumbled. "Which is why you're the singer, not the guitarist or drummer."

"Cold." Kara said from behind him, and her face appeared in the doorway too. "Cold cold words coming from a guy who's making Addison's dresser so hot."

"Also Kara's arrived." Lysander said cheerfully.

"Thanks for the heads up." Castiel sighed.

I chose not to say anything, instead burying my face in his jacket and inhaling his scent. I was certain I was blushing bright red.

"Come on Cas, let the girl try on some dresses. You can ravish her after semi formal." Lysander wagered.

Castiel seemed to think that was a decent enough idea. He took my hand and pulled me off the dresser.

I shooed him out of my room, still blushing furiously, and closed the door behind him. I could hear the other two teasing him out in the living room. I smiled.

Reaching for the garment bag, I took a moment to admire the beautiful insignia for Leigh's store in gold lettering on the front. It really was nice of everyone to do all this for me. I suspected Castiel hadn't cleaned the apartment alone.

I unzipped the bag and gasped at the contents. Definitely the right dress. Not a chance in hell was I going to semi in anything else.

**OH MY GOD YOU MUST ALL HATE ME.**

**Look at least it isn't the last chapter okay?**

**Also I tried really hard and like nothing came out of this chapter. OH WELL. SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG.**

**I would come up with excuses but **

**There are none. I was just uber lazy.**

**THE LONGER IT TAKES ME TO WRITE OUT BLOODY EXCUSES THE LONGER IT TAKES ME TO UPLOAD SO I GOTTA GET ON THAT.**


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